No Rest For The Wicked
by VinylVictory
Summary: Formerly IN WHICH RACHEL AND AL DO IT. A bit of plot, a bit of fun stuff. Rachel goes to her lessons in the Ever-After and takes a nap in a room she's never seen before. Rachel/Al Post BMS. NOW WITH 30% MORE PLOT FREE!
1. Chapter 1

Notes: This is my first Rachel Morgan fic. This is also my first fic with Naughty Bits in it. Please let me know if I slip up on my canon. I've been reading the eight books over the course of five years and some things do slip the mind.

Chapter 1 – Beginnings

I sat down with my "morning" coffee and looked at the newspaper dubiously. It looked so innocuous lying there where Ivy had left it, neatly folded and lined up with the right angle of the old table. I didn't want to unfold it because I didn't want to know what they had written about my little stunt in Fountain Square. Cincinnati's Famous Shunned Black Witch Rachel Morgan Appears Naked To Return Elf Porn. They knew the coven of ethical and moral standards had threatened me with death, but still. I didn't fully believe the newspapers would resist a chance to fry me. Again. They were still playing the footage of Al dragging me on my ass down the street on the nightly news' opening credits, in case anyone had forgotten. I knew I would eventually succumb, probably rationalizing that I needed to know what status my public image was in if I was going to leave my church ever again, but who wants to start their day with a front page picture of themselves naked in Fountain Square, hairy as an orangutan? Not this witch.

I resolved to read only articles not including me. So I pulled it toward me, unfolded it, and forced my eyes away from the large, naked picture of myself. I read the other headlines, until something at the bottom of the front page caught my eye. The article wasn't very big, but the word DEMON in large print caught my eye. I paused for a moment, remembering my agreement with myself, but it wasn't my picture at the bottom corner of the page, but another woman's. It was a mug shot of a pale, long-faced twenty-something with dark eyes and dark red hair clearly from a bottle. It was a dark cherry color, and I doubted if it was even meant to look natural. It fell in two curtains that were so straight and silky they made me jealous. DEMONS IN DETROIT, read the headline. Below it: Black witch Hildy Roberson tears up Detroit with demon summoning. My eyebrows raised. Stupid, stupid girl. "Crap on toast," I said as I skimmed the artical. Hildy Roberson broke into a house, went to prison to await trial, and was broken out within twenty-four hours. By a demon. I didn't even want to know what that cost. How in hell had she summoned him from prison? Nine people were injured, one of which died in the hospital. Another man had a heart attack just from the sight. I started when I saw my name. Her physical description read: "5'9", 125 lbs, red hair, dark eyes, and an aura blacker than Rachel Morgan's." Un. Necessary. Must I be brought up EVERY time a demon shows up ANYWHERE in America EVER. I tossed the paper away in disgust. No more morning paper for Rachel. Nuh-uh.

I finished my coffee and went to take a shower. A nice, long, forty-five minute indulgence shower.

When I came out and went back into the kitchen to make myself a sandwich, Ivy was sitting there. Reading that damned paper. "What's the damage report?" I asked.

"Oh," said Ivy coolly, "they're being fairer about it than I expected. That reporter with the truth amulet helped. Now they know you weren't lying. At least, about the coven." Ivy was reading an article on the inner pages, the paper folded so that she could easily read the article she wanted. With some of the inner pages now facing out, I saw another picture of that Detroit thing. They had a black and white, low-resolution picture some stupid person took on their phone instead of running the hell away, and I stopped. The demon had taken the form of a giant, evil-looking dog. I recognized it immediately. The library basement. Nick. Algaliarept. Al took the form of a dog to scare Nick. And there it was. That same dog, standing on a pile of broken wall, a tall, thin figure emerging from the building behind it. I looked at the paper. I was sure it was Al's dog. It had to be Al. I would have to ask him about it when I saw him this weekend. If they found out it was Al and connected him with me, I was sure to get blamed! They were already name-dropping me every time a demon got summoned.

This time, I'd do it right. If I got all uppity about how he occupied his weeknights again I'd surely get smacked across the room. Maybe if he let me into his library again… perhaps over some coffee? But then I remembered that rancid tasting stuff he gave me the last time I was there and thought again. Should I bring him a coffee? Try to sweeten him up? I could think of one way to sweeten Al up, but I wasn't going that route. I had yet to see Al's bedroom and didn't want to. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if he used it for actual sleeping ever, so all I pictured was black satin sheets and handcuffs. I shivered. No way. No matter how many snide comments Al made about me sleeping with him one day.


	2. Chapter 2

Notes: I noticed that Al used to be able to pick things out from Rachel's mind (like back in EWWBD) but he hasn't really done that lately or hasn't being saying anything about that. So I just put it back in. Didn't want you to think I had just suddenly thrown in "OH and Al can read minds."

Chapter 2 - Catalyst

I stood in my graveyard, ready for Al to appear. Soon I felt a pop, and he was there, standing in the mist of the graveyard, looking like he just stepped out of a movie, as always. "Student," he greeted me, inclining his head. He offered his arm and I took it, compressed into a thought and move through the ley lines.

_What's bothering you, my itchy-witch?_ He asked.

Crap. I had forgotten to put a bubble around my thoughts.

_Nothing_, I lied.

_I distinctly recall last time I stood in this graveyard, you asked me to quit lying to you. You have to give to get, student_.

We were reconstructed in Al's kitchen, also looking like it was from a movie, and I put a bubble around my thoughts, remembering demons' ability to look in people's heads.

"Well?" he asked.

"Nothing," I answered. This wasn't right. I had wanted to plan this, dammit! I make a plan for once and it all goes to crap. I mentally sighed.

Al fixed his red, goat-slitted eyes on me. "I don't like you keeping secrets from me, Rachel. I won't allow it in my kitchen."

His patronizing tone got to me. Allow it in his kitchen my ass. He sounded like my mother! "How was your trip to Detroit?" I snapped.

Al's eyes widened in surprise, and then he broke out in a laugh. "Marvelous. Very invigorating. How would you know about that? Subscribing to Demon Dealers Weekly, now, are we?"

"You made the paper," I said angrily. "And my name was in it!"

"Really?" said Al, a pinch of vague surprise in his otherwise uninterested voice. "I wonder why… Was my name in it?"

"No it was not," I said, wishing it had been. It would serve him right, getting summoned into a bubble every which way. "I recognized your dog disguise."

"Really? And did it ever occur to you that some other demon _might_ have a similar dog to mine? Though I do say, it really is quite spectacular, isn't it?"

I stopped. It hadn't. But I wasn't going to let him know it. "I knew it was you."

"Do you recall the first time we met?" he said, dreamily.

"Yes. You tore out my neck and gave me a demon mark," I said dryly.

"Well, anyway. All water under the bridge now. I'm glad to see you are starting to take an interest in my work."

"I am not taking an interest in your work! I am taking an interest in saving my ass!"

"You had nothing to do with it. I was engaged in another appointment."

"I hope you charged her double," I said resentfully, thinking about the eight in the hospital and two dead. "Why did you have to bust down a wall instead of jumping the lines? What does a jailbreak cost these days anyhow?"

"Questions, questions, itchy-witch. Hildy likes to put on a show. As to cost, we have an agreement. I have never worked with her before, but she came highly recommended. You and she are in the same business."

I blinked, confused. "Runner?" I asked?

"More or less. I think she prefers the term 'bounty hunter.' Really she's just a gun for hire."

"What do you need a bounty hunter for?" I asked. I was so not getting this.

Al sighed. "I have always prided myself in the quality of my familiars. Talented, well-trained, obedient. But I can't stay in these four rooms forever. I told you, I want my conservatory back. So I went to Hildy."

I was still not getting it. Then a light flicked on. "She bagged you a familiar? She traffics in _human flesh?_"

"Witch flesh, really. And she hasn't bagged him yet. That's what all that trouble in Detroit was about. She agreed to give him to me free if I got her out of jail, a good deal. She's very expensive. She's really just making it harder on herself. She could settle down in a nice Italian villa somewhere and live rich for the rest of her life, but she insists on playing it dangerous. Much like you, my itchy-witch."

"I could not have an Italian villa if I wanted!" I exclaimed. Italian villa. Me. Yeah, right.

"No, not in Italy. But you could have a wonderful set of rooms here, in the Ever-After. You're both just choosing to live it rough."

I didn't like being compared to her. "She's a traitor to her race," I said softly, trying to imagine it. "For profit."

"Oh don't get you're little black panties into a twist, Rachel. You wouldn't approve of _any_ of the witches she hands over to me. She doesn't just take Mr. and Mrs. Across-the-road, she takes people she deems 'bad'. Really, it's more vigilante than treacherous. I rather think you'd like her. Perhaps we should have coffee and cake together one evening." His tone was mild, but I couldn't help but think that by "cake" he meant "threesome".

"I don't want to meet her," I said. Al just sneered. "I'm surprised you're so fond of her. Not going to drag her into the Ever-After again and sell her off?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. Everyone she works for wants to drag her off, but no one has, yet. And I'm not sure if I would sell her or keep her for myself." Al made a low noise and closed his eyes briefly in memory. "We drove down the highway and she holed up in a cheap motel in the middle of nowhere. I took her from behind on the horrid motel bed. She couldn't get enough. It was like we were Bonnie and Clyde."

I closed my eyes, trying to shut out his words. I did not appreciate the image of Al and this girl doing it from behind. "Al, you bastard, I don't want to hear about that," I said, but when I opened my eyes he was looking intently at me.

"Why?" he asked softly. "Jealous?" His eyes were still on mine in the dim light of his kitchen.

I stifled a shiver. That was not a tone of voice I was comfortable with. Something deep inside shifted, and I squelched it with my metaphorical boot heel.

Later, I sat at his slate table, studying Latin. Al was moving restlessly by the fire. He would sometimes open a book, read some, then put it away or go down into the cellar to yell at Pierce. I was slightly peeved he didn't have anything really useful for me to do, but also sort of relieved after last time. He had been sitting by the fire when he suddenly stood up. "Time to go, dove," he said to me.

"What? Go where?" I asked.

"I need to pick up the goods from Hildy. She won't come into the Ever-After, clever girl."

"I already said I didn't want to meet her."

"I didn't ask. I am not leaving you alone again, and certainly not with Pierce," he spat Pierce's name and his eyes burned for a second. I wondered if he knew about what happened between Pierce and me or if he was just generally peeved with Pierce again, as usual. I decided to not say anything. Nope, I certainly wasn't going to be the one to tell Al. Hell, I wouldn't even be around when it happened if I could help it.

"I can sit here and study Latin by myself," I said.

"Quit whining. It's unbecoming. I already said I am not leaving you alone. Come along." I knew that I had pushed Al to his limit on this and stood up grudgingly. "It might even be fun, if you let it," he said and grabbed me around my waist and pushed us into a line before I could reply. I remembered to put a bubble around my thoughts this time.

We popped out into a field somewhere. I turned around and saw her. She looked like her picture, tall, thin, pale, but this time she was smiling. "Ally," she said fondly, and opened her arms for a hug. I crossed my arms and stayed where I was while Al embraced her. It was a more-than-friends hug, what with the way he had wedged his leg between hers. I saw his hand snake around to her ass and grab it. She yelled in mock surprise and pretended to be offended as she batted his hand away. "Really, Al, don't make me regret mixing business with pleasure."

I heard Al make a low growling noise, like a large cat purring, and say something I didn't hear. She saw me and smiled. "Rachel Morgan," she said. "I've heard of you." Well, obviously, since you know my name, traitor.

She stepped towards me and I saw a crumpled heap behind her in a silly-looking black robe. She stood in front of me and held out her hand. She was taller than me, but I had several pounds of muscle on her. She looked like somebody stuck tits on a stickfigure. She looked very striking, possibly able to give Ivy a run for her money when it came to looks, but I bet that was her real face as much as the British gentleman was Al's. I didn't take her hand.

"Now, Rachel," said Al, patronizing as always, "don't be rude. Shake your fellow runner's hand."

"She's not a runner," I mumbled, but I shook it quickly anyway. I just wanted to get back to Al's kitchen and away from this traitor slut. She was seriously gross.

Hildy raised one eyebrow at me and I silently damned her again. I had always wanted to be able to do that! She didn't say anything though, and instead turned around back to the heap. "He was wearing this when I found him. Trying to summon a demon to take me out. I got to him before sunset though." She looked at me this time. "He had an eleven year old girl all lined up as payment."

I squirmed. I didn't want her talking to me and didn't know why she felt like she needed to justify herself to me. Al took the pile and vanished, reappearing one awkwardly silent minute later.

"It's all arranged," he said. "I expect to have my conservatory back by tomorrow."

"Pleasure doing business with you," she said, and giggled at her pun. Pleasure. Ha. Funny. She inclined her head and took off running. I jumped as she moved impossibly fast over the empty field, as if she were a vampire.

"Demon curse. Lets her run fast. She's got another one that makes her impenetrable. Her skin, anyway. Catch her at the right time and she's _penetrable_ enough."

He was giving me the icks again. Just when we were starting to really work together, he keeps talking about his sexcapades with this gross woman.

"Come now. Let's get along," he said, and pulled me back into the Ever-After.


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: Well, this is a combo of a big ship-fest fic and a PWP. That is, I started out with some stuff, some plot-ish stuff, and then skipped to The Good Part. It's what we really want, right? I also ran out of ideas. First fic in many years, and first Hollows fic. Also please remember this is the first sex scene I've ever written, but reviews and pointers are appreciated? They don't exactly teach you this sort of thing in Composition class.

Chapter 3 – The Good Part

It was a few hours later, and I was starting to yawn. "Are we tired, love?" he asked. I nodded. "A rest, then. I won't have you drooling on my books."

I stood up to walk to the benches by the fire pit, but Al stopped me. "I think you would be more comfortable in the other room," he said, and I remembered he had his library back now. I was sick of this room anyhow. He took me and transported us… to a large room that was not his library. "Be a dear and remove your boots, will you?" he asked. His buckled boots had disappeared, and he was walking to a set of sliding doors with rice-paper windows. I took a moment to look around the room. In a word, it was Oriental. And elaborate. It looked like Al had taken a room from the Forbidden City and transported it here. I gawked. It was the nicest, most lavish, most detail-oriented room I had ever been in. And then I spotted the bed. There was only one room of Al's I hadn't seen, and I was certainly there now: his bedroom.

Anger flooded through me. I damned him for not teaching me how to jump lines. I would have jumped right back to the kitchen. Right back to my house! This was not okay. "Al!" I yelled, and turned around to face the wall behind me. Like all his rooms, there weren't any doors, but my hands rose up to feel the wall as if it would open for me and let me out of here. "What the hell are you doing!"

Al turned back from the closet, looking at me with an amused expression over his smoked glasses. He was holding two kimonos, or the Chinese version of kimonos, since I didn't know if Japan was included in The Orient, seeing as how anyone who called it The Orient nowadays got slapped with a big PC stick, but this place was a trip back in time. "By the two worlds colliding, Rachel, what are you going on about? I told you to take off your boots. One does not wear shoes in this room. It's traditional. Take them off so you can put on your robe."

"Al! This is your bedroom! Robe? Why do you have that dress… robe… thing?" I asked looking at the black and red garment, which I could only assume was traditional Chinese clothing for women. He had a green robe, in a more masculine cut.

"Well, it's for you." I turned around and hit the wall. I'd dig my way out if I had to. I pulled my hand back to hit the wall again, but Al caught it, suddenly behind me. "Rachel Mariana Morgan, calm down this instant. You think I've brought you hear to take you against your will?" he whispered into my ear, making me turn my head so my ear was away from him and his hot breath. He moved closer to me, pulling me against him. He whispered in my other ear, "If I had wanted you like that, I would have had you a long time ago, love." My heart was racing from fear, I hoped. "So calm down. I already told you. One night, _you'll_ come to _me_." He sneered and moved away. "Take off your damn boots!"

I obliged, leaving them by the place where the door would have been. I stepped onto the elaborate carpet and he handed me my robe, which was really sort of a dress. I took it. It was very soft and light and I part of me hoped he would let me keep it. I could wear this to the top of Carew Tower, if I ever got there again.

Al moved behind an elaborate screen and began to disrobe. I knew he could just have misted himself into wearing that robe, which meant he was only changing because he wanted me to watch. It made me uncomfortable, partly because I was seeing more of him than I ever had before and partly because I was a little curious. The big, black, naked demon he had frightened Treble with flashed into my mind. I still didn't know if that was really him or just another disguise spell. I was afraid to speculate.

I put my back to him, examining the red and gold wallpaper. The bed had curtains on it, so I moved behind one and tried to change quickly. I didn't know quite what to do with all these little buttons and sashes, and soon Al was behind me, tying my sash. He reached to do my buttons, but I got there first, seeing where they were supposed to go now. "I've got it, thanks," I said quickly and without emotion. This was still not okay. But what he said about being able to take me whenever he wanted was true. He could have done it at any time, and I think he wanted the ego stroke of "me coming to him". When pigs fly.

I turned around. He held me at arms' length, looking me over. "Yes, very nice. I had it made for you. The red is _perfect_." I felt like a cross between a Barbie doll and a blow-up doll. I took a step back and crossed my arms. "Now what? You brought me in here because I was tired."

"Then replenish your strength here," he said, and moved toward a corner occupied by a low, ornately carved table inlaid with mother of pearl, showing scenes of luminous cranes at a river at night. Surrounding it were silk pillows and a few blankets. Al sat neatly by the table, which now had a steaming tea set on it. Instead of his usual porcelain, the cups were small and looked like cast iron, with dragons or dragonflies on them. It was really beautiful. "Some tea, I think," he said, and I hoped it was better than the coffee.

I sat across the table from him, making sure I was covered. "Feel free to recline," said Al with a gracious motion of his ungloved hand. I noticed he had kept the English lord's body, instead of changing himself to look more Eastern.

I was so tired I didn't care. I lay back onto the pillows, pulled a blanket up over me, and shut my eyes. He poured me a steaming cup of tea. I didn't care if he was trying to seduce me; I was so comfortable. I arranged the pillows to cushion me better, my thoughts going to the bed. No. The bed, as soft as it looked, was Grade A Danger Zone. I mentally put up the DO NOT CROSS yellow, crime scene tape around its ornately carved posts. Nope. No sir. Not me. I don't care if it's the most comfortable damn bed in the two worlds. I was just fine here on these pillows in my comfy silk robe.

"You haven't tried your tea," he said.

"I'm too tired," I said.

"I've never seen anyone too tired for a beverage. Especially not an ancient Chinese blend of tea like this. From ancient China, of course, kept fresh in my kitchen."

I opened my eyes and sat up to take a drink, not wanting to spill all over my beautiful robe and the pillows. The cups were small, a little bigger than shot glasses, and I took a sip. It tasted like dishwater. Demon dishwater, with the burnt amber taste all over it. I tried not to make a face so he would just let me go back to sleep. He was quiet, and I drifted off. I had fallen asleep around him before. He had always behaved himself.

I dreamed I was in the field again. "I opine, mistress witch, that that is the most beautiful sunset I have seen in all my born days." I felt Pierce's strong hand in mind and rolled over to see him looking at me. But instead of Pierce's eyes, he had two red, sideways-slitted eyes like a goat that burned with something I wasn't used to seeing there. As I stared into his eyes, Pierce's form changed to the young British gentleman. Without his green coat, his shirt was billowing in the soft breeze and I could see through the color to his chest, darker than I imagined it to be, like his hands. He reached for me, running his fingers through my hair. I could smell his musky scent under the strong burnt amber smell. Was that Old Spice?

I woke up to someone combing out my hair. I had woken up to quickly and was a bit disoriented. "Rachel, you really ought to take better care of your hair. It could be so lovely." I sat up quickly and turned around to find him sitting behind me. He had moved across the table to my side. "What?" I asked groggily, questioning the whole situation. How did I end up in Al's bedroom in a silk robe getting my hair brushed by a demon? I remembered, but it didn't make it any better.

"Finding a way to occupy my time," he said. I could still feel his hand in mine, the pinky golden sunlight falling across his face in a way it never would.

Peeved that he was invading my personal space, I said, "By playing beauty salon? Why don't you go play beauty parlor with Hildy. I'm sure she _wouldn't be able to get enough_," I said, mimicking his proper English accent. There was more ire in my voice than I intended and I checked myself mentally, wondering where it had come from.

"Because I'd rather comb yours," he answered. "She's not a natural red-head anyway. In fact, I think most of her isn't natural anymore. She's got too many demon curses in her to let her change her appearance."

"You're not natural anymore," I said, still sleepy and unable to think of anything better to say. I vaguely thought of that old song by The Cramps, "What's Behind The Mask." Somehow it made me wary.

He leaned over and said softly, "I'd look like a stranger to you if I took it all off, and then where would we be?"

I looked up at his handsome, youthful face and hoped he was ugly or scary or both. It might make it easier to get up out of his lap, but I just wanted to fall asleep again. "Do demons sleep?" I asked, but I was drifting off before I could hear his answer. I think he said "Not anymore," or something. Like that made sense.

I woke up again to find him dozing off in a chair. I guessed that answered my question. I wondered if he was really asleep or pretending for some bizarre Al reason. I padded over with my bare feet and leaned over him, listening to his breath and trying to see if his eyelids were flickering. He opened his red eyes and smiled at me, looking rather smug.

I was so close to him… "I've killed people for getting this close to me while I was unawares. If you were Pierce…"

"I'm not Pierce," I breathed. I was so close. I didn't want to move away. I didn't even want to think about why I didn't want to move away. I was an old hand at making bad decisions. Al stood up and I moved with him. We were standing very close, almost touching. I didn't move back. He was so handsome. He was taking care of me. He had asked me to live with him. What did that mean? I knew he wanted to have sex with me. He never kept it a secret. Not from day one. I wanted him to touch me. I suddenly became aware that I was breathing very heavily, long, slow, deep breaths that made my chest rise and fall. My freshly combed hair curled down past my shoulders. Yeah, I really wanted him to touch me. I was always the strong one. My strength and power rivaled every man I'd ever slept with, and outstripped a lot of them, except Pierce. I wanted someone who could make me his. I'd never really had that. I wanted to shimmy up to him, the nuclear reactor of magical power he was. I wanted that. I wanted to feel that. Damnit, I wanted him to touch me!

He crossed his arms behind his back and smiled smugly down at me. Crap on toast, he could see into my head! He knew, the bastard, he knew and he was just standing there. _Do me do me do me do me do me do me do me_ was echoing through my thoughts uncontrollably like a mantra, a chant. I couldn't stop it and I knew he could hear it.

"Say it," he said. "I promised. I won't do it unless you tell me I can."

I gulped. Oh god. Could I do that? Could I really ask a demon to screw me? Did I really want to do this? _Yesssssssssssss_, said the secret part of me, the one I never listened to because I was too afraid. I remembered telling Al I wasn't afraid of myself when he appeared as me. He said I was. He knew me, even then. I was afraid, but I wanted to do it. It was like I had been possessed again, but this time I was possessed by the Rachel I never let see the light of day, and in this Oriental palace bedroom, I wanted to get down with Al, a demon. Now.

"Rachel," he coaxed. His voice was soft. He'd been so soft all night. Damn it, he'd been planning this! I didn't care, couldn't care now. I unfroze my limbs and let that other Rachel, the one I wouldn't let out, take them over. She ran her hands—my hands—up his thighs, teasing around his crotch.

"Those aren't words, Rachel," he said, his hands still behind his back. I tried to move them on me, but he was stronger than me. God, he was so much stronger than me! No one was this much stronger than me. It made me want him. I wanted to conquer him. I wanted him to conquer me! We could take turns. We had all night. Or day. However long because I didn't know what time it was.

"God damn it Al! Quit playing with me! I'm taking you up on your offer! I want—" I started.

"You want what, Rachel," he whispered. I wanted to kiss him but I knew he wouldn't let me.

"I want you…" I said, feeling stupid talking like I was in some 70s porn move.

"You want me to what?"

I couldn't take it. So many euphemisms and words for sex, I couldn't pick one. "Just—sex me okay?!" I said. It wasn't a verb. It didn't matter.

Like I had unlocked something, his hands flew out to grab me, pulling me to him. He kissed me hard, but his lips were soft and pliant. There were two thin layers of silk between us. Just two thin layers of silk. I could feel the heat from him through the fabric. It was so close to being naked. It was a tease all in itself.

He grabbed my hair and bent me over backwards, curling one strong arm under my legs and putting me on the bed. I could already feel him hard through his robe. I sat up to meet him, and he kissed me, pressing me up to him, leaning over to meet me. I tried to pull him on top of me, but couldn't. I couldn't stand this. I undid that sash on his robe. They were silly anyway, sitting here playing dress up with Al. The robe opened, but he didn't take it all the way off. Now there was one layer of silk between us. It was horrible and wonderful. So close to being pressed up against him. I tried to stand up but he wouldn't let me. Instead, he held me there with one hand while the other slid up my long silk robe, caressing my bare skin, until he found my underwear. I tried to remember what I had on and hoped it was something sexy. He put his hand on my crotch and just the heat from it made me gasp. He moved his fingers around the fabric, almost tickling me with his teasing fingers. "Take them off!" I yelled. I didn't know how much more foreplay I could stand. I wanted him in me.

"You're soaked," he whispered hoarsely.

Yeah, great, because I need you there NOW! He pushed my panties aside and slid two fingers into me. I shivered, just from anticipation, just from the feel of him touching me. I spread my legs, or rather, my legs spread themselves. I was almost all instinct now. I grabbed the front of his robe, hanging loose. "Al!" I yelled. I tried to push his robe off, managing to get one shoulder down. He shrugged out of it, standing before me naked. I wanted to see him. All of him. The appearance-conscious demon would be sure to make himself look delicious from top to bottom. Bottom. I reached around and felt for his ass, cupping it. It was muscular and round. I only had time to notice that Al had the two muscular ridges that ran down past the opening of his hips to his groin. God, I loved that. His skin was soft, but the muscles beneath it were hard. I could feel them when he moved. I was grateful that I could be with a man who had the means to make himself look _perfect_, as shallow as that was. But then he was swifly undoing sashes and buttons, and I lay before him, half unwrapped. He was holding my legs, one foot on the floor, the other curled behind his back. He ran his hand up from my groin, over my stomach, between my breasts, and sliding up the cup my face. I looked up at him, my fear arousing me. He slipped one hand behind my back, raising me with one arm, the other moving the silk garment aside. He tossed on a chair nearby. I tried to position myself for him to enter me, but he knelt before me instead. He used his fingers to spread me before going to work with his tongue. Five thousand years of practice pays off. I felt like my head was going to pop off, like my brain was going to come out the top of my head or melt out my ears. I wanted it to stop. I wanted control again. "Relax," he said between licks. "Just ride it out." I tried to do what he said, though it was counter to my nature to sacrifice control. I tried to steady my breath—a difficult task—and concentrated on the waves of pleasure. I was in heaven, though I still felt exceptionally empty. My body knew this was just a stand-in for something more. "Al," I moaned again, trying to get him to hurry up with it. We could do this later. I wanted him on top of me, inside me. He stopped and I made a noise of displeasure. "Such a hurry. This isn't like Solstice morning, running downstairs and ripping all your presents off. There's pleasure in the buildup," he said as me moved his body over me slowly. I just made noises. "You asked. We're doing this my way. Trust me. You'll enjoy it when it comes." He brushed my opening with the tip of his penis to illustrate his point.

I was dead. I was going to die right here, waiting. Die from anticipation. We hadn't even started and I was dying. He put his mouth over mine and let ley line energy spill in. It was power. Raw power in the form of a beautiful man, all sex and power. I opened myself to it, hungry for it. He reached two fingers down to massage my clitoris, and I gasped when he ran a current down from my mouth to my clit. I was buzzing, all the way to my core. That's the only way to describe it. Buzzing with pleasure. Everywhere our skin touched it was like sparks in a very literal way as ley line power moved from me to him, finding a new place to commune with ever new inch of skin that came together. He moved his hand up to cup my breast and his mouth covered my ear, sucking and nibbling. Somehow it shot a path right down to my groin, pressure building there. Then he went down on me again, and I realized I was just about screaming. He moaned into me, and I could feel ley line energy flowing up into the base of my skull. He slipped two fingers into me and moved his mouth to my nipple, sucking and biting. He was running ley line energy all through me, more than I'd ever had in a current, and I couldn't tell the difference between the energy of the line and my own pleasure. It all blurred into one sensation flowing all through me. He moved to my other nipple and I moaned and yelped as he hit deep inside of me with his fingers. Then he was at my entrance, long and thick and more than fully ready. "Ready?" he asked teasingly.

I was beyond words. I just made a noise and writhed under him. He loved it. He pushed himself into me in one big push and I yelped again, deep inside me again, but a hundred times more so. He moved in and out of me and I just looked up at him, his taut shoulder muscles, the topography of his biceps. I couldn't really think about anything, I just looked. He worked into a rhythm that made me close my eyes, gasp, and yell sort of all at once. I looked into his eyes and could swear they were glowing and I could feel the head from them. My hips bucked instinctively and I could feel my lower muscles clench, preparing to climax. "Al," I gasped, trying to tell him I was close. I realized he was panting hard, and he was much too fit and experienced to be worn out just from the exertion. He was losing it too. His face scrunched up and he looked vulnerable for a moment, before his eyes opened and I could see the white of them all the way around the red irises. His pushes became hard and deliberate, and I screamed as the waves rolled through me. He kept going, and I didn't understand. I expected him to come around the same time I did, but he kept going. I realized in my crazed brain he was going for seconds. He would. He hadn't come yet and wasn't going to until I got mine. Again. I felt the release of energy, and then started to build again. I panted and moaned, but he kept going. And going and going and going. As my next orgasm came to a feverpitch, I yelled, "Don't you ever come?"

He moaned and said, "Not until I feel like it." I suppose five-thousand years does a lot for stamina.

"Just do it!" I gasped. I didn't know how much more I could take. There was only so many times an earth could be shattered in one go.

"Say the magic word," he gasped, and I delighted in the strain in his voice. He was enjoying himself. Composed, slick, put-together Al was going primal, all moans and yells I didn't understand.

"PLEASE!" I yelled as I orgasmed, and he moved in and out a few more times before one big final push as I felt his whole glorious body tense up.

I was probably drooling. My eyes were surely rolling in my head. I wondered if the brain matter would come out of the sheets, or I would have wondered, if I had any brains left. He collapsed onto me and I moved my arms to wrap around him. My primal brain wanted to stay with him, and I thought of how things were long ago, before language, when this was all there was. I listened to and felt Al's heavy breaths above me. He was so warm. I moved my hands along the muscles of his back. So soft, so firm. I was so happy. Blissfully happy. Relaxed. I heaved a sigh and waited for my muscles to let go of him. It was going to be a while.

End Note: I wanted to make sex with Al seem really outlandish. Like, over his thousands of years he's picked up like sex tricks used by ancient Egyptian harem girls or something. Things that you can't even imagine. Unfortunately, it is hard to imagine the unimaginable. So, sort of fail there. Suggestions?


	4. Chapter 4

Note: it was supposed to be over. I had checked the completed bubble. But I got so many nice reviews and requests to continue, I decided to, you know, continue.

* * *

Chapter 4

Back in reality, I was feeling awkward. I sat in front of Ivy's big screen television and tried not to think about it. _Damn it, Rachel. Do you have to sleep with every man who comes into your life? He's not even a man! He's a demon!_ I sighed and tried to concentrate on the stupid show. _He seemed like a man to me_, said the snide part of me. This whole split-personality thing was going to have to stop. Okay. So there is a part of me that is attracted to Al. No way to deny it now. But does it have to keep acting up? Why can't it just go away?

A commercial came on and I changed the channel. It was a news report. Crap on toast, there was Hildy Roberson again. It was probably her driver's license picture they were using now, and she was smiling like a model. _Damn her_. I wanted to bring her in, damn it. She was bad to the bone. But Al and I had a careful balance worked out now, at least I hoped. Or we _had_ had a careful balance worked out before I had to go ahead and screw him. Blood that I wasn't really wanting to admit to rushed to my groin as I thought of it, seeing flashes of Al in my head. Al's face over mine. Al between my legs. Al standing in front of me when I was on his bed. His _bed_ for the love of the Turn. And then I saw Al, blacker than sin in his library and naked as a witch at the Rites of May. It scared me, and deep, deep down, deeper than I was ever willing to admit to, it turned me on. I wondered what it would feel to have _that_ on top of you and shuddered. From fear, thankyouverymuch. I didn't even want to think about that _inside of me_. Ouch.

_Damnit, I want ice cream!_ I thought, so I put on my boots and grabbed my bag to walk down to the grocery store. Before I left, I thought twice and put on my shades. Outside the store, I got stopped by a young woman, probably a teenager, holding a magazine. I could tell from her scent she was human.

"Hey can you sign this for me?" she asked. Hell, this wasn't the first time I'd been asked for an autograph around Cincy but usually they were men who thought it was funny to give me a hard time, but this girl was for real. She, in all seriousness, wanted my autograph. She extended the magazine to me hopefully and I looked at it. It was a Newsweek with a big, color picture of me from a few months ago yelling at someone and reaching for my splat gun. _Damn, I was still gonna make Pierce buy me a new one_.

She reached into her bag and found a pen. "Please?" she asked. Hot damn, if I didn't know better, I'd say this girl was treating me with respect. I looked at her warily and signed her magazine, putting a period after my name so it couldn't be used as a focusing object. She thanked me and walked to her car.

I walked in, hoping they wouldn't kick me out. I wanted ice cream and I didn't want to get into my car and drive to a human supermarket. Hell, they'd probably recognize me there too. I walked in quickly and went straight to the freezer. When I got to the counter I already had my money out. I guess enough doubt had been cast on the Coven of Ethical and Moral Standards that they let me pay for my ice cream.

When I got home, Ivy was reading some fashion magazine or catalogue or something, and I paused when I saw the cover. On the front there stood a red haired model with her hair curled and teased till it was large and frizzy. She was wearing tight, black leather from head to toe, with big ,black boots. She even had big silver hoops.

"What is that?" I asked Ivy slowly.

She looked up at me, her lips twitching in a small smile. "It's the new trend. Their calling it the Rachel Morgan Look. They even have copies of the dresses you wore at Carew Tower and the time you and Trent went on the Saladan's gambling boat."

I stood dumbfounded as I flipped through pages of models in black leather boots—boots I wish I could afford—and pants. Someone had even come out with a black T-shirt that said Staff on it, pairing it with designer jeans I'd never be able to have. I turned to a spread of a model dressed in a black leather dress holding a cherry red splat gun. She looked ridiculous, posing artistically in an urban street at night, her big, red hair blowing in the wind. It was like someone had taken my life and dressed it up as a fashion shoot, which was pretty accurate, when I thought about it.

"This is ridiculous," I said, putting the magazine down. What was this anyway? _Neiman Marcus Lookbook_ was printed on the front. _Damn_.

"Your performance in Fountain Square got you noticed. Nationally. They have polls about whether you are a good witch or a bad witch."

I sighed as I tore the top off the pint of ice cream and wondered if a beer would go well with Triple Caramel Chunk. "Ugh. I just want my life back. This girl asked me for my autograph today."

Ivy neatly folded the catalogue and set it on the table so it was square with the edges. "Is that why you are ice cream binging?"

I swallowed my ice cream with a loud gulping sound. Ivy turned to me suddenly with vampire quickness and I realized my heart rate must have gone up. To me it just felt like my heart and gone down to the pit of my stomach along with the ice cream.

"Rachel…" she said seriously. "Did something happen in the Ever-After?"

I tried to keep my breathing even. No use keeping secrets when your roommate is a vampire. I put another spoonful of ice cream in my mouth and said around the mass of creamy coldness in my mouth "I slept with Al." Then I shut my eyes and hoped she hadn't heard me. Or maybe not. I didn't want to have to say it again. From Ivy's utter stillness, I was betting she had.

She blinked once and took a slow, calming breath. "Why?" she asked. There was no emotion in her voice.

"I fell asleep in his bedroom and things sort of… happened." _He's very attractive_, I thought, and wondered if I should say it out loud. Would it make it better by justifying it or worse because I was admitting I was attracted to Al.

She blinked and breathed again. I took a peek at her eyes and saw a thin ring of brown. I didn't want them to get in a fight. Al would win and I knew it. "Did he make you?"

"No!" I said. "No… he made me give, like, verbal consent before… it."

"Well, I suppose he is your type. Dangerous and a bad idea."

It hurt like a punch in the gut, but that was only because it was true. "Too real," I whispered, and put my ice cream down. I wasn't hungry anymore. "He's the only man I know who knows what I am and doesn't care."

"He's not a man, he's a demon. And Pierce knows what you are." I was shocked because Ivy didn't like Pierce, but I guess he was better than Al in her opinion.

Pierce was going to die if he found out. For the love of the Turn, I was sleeping with both of them and couldn't let the other find out! I was in a love triangle with a demon and a black witch in the Ever-After and a national icon in reality. This was absolute bullshit. "I thought you didn't like Pierce," I said quietly, with a belly full of shame.

"I don't," she spat. "But at least he's not a demon. You saw what he did to Ceri. How can you, Rachel, have sex with _that_?" She was losing it. Oh shit. I felt even worse when I thought about Ceri. She wouldn't even speak when we pulled her away from Al, didn't even hear unless you said her name first.

"Rachel. You can't let him do this to you. He's acting just like a master vampire. You know he's bad but he can make you feel so good it doesn't matter. But the shame won't go away. Don't let him do this to you. You can't become like me."

I wanted to lock myself in my room. This was not okay. I felt terrible and Ivy could lose it any second and wouldn't that just be the crap icing on the shit cake.

"He's going to make you feel like a monster, like only he can love you, like you belong in the Ever-After. Don't let him. You're still you. You belong here."

Ivy was leaning towards me, still as marble, her eyes completely black. Vampire incense filled the room.

Suddenly Jenks came flying into the room. "Ivy! Leave now!" Ivy took a swing at Jenks and ran out of the room. She was out the door faster than I could see. I wanted to cry but wouldn't let myself.

"Rache, what happened?" asked Jenks.

I just shook my head. "I'm okay," I said shakily, then I went to my room.

I picked up my phone and called the Kalamack front desk and asked for Ceri. She was the last person I wanted to talk to, but she would know the most. Now that they weren't cordoning her off, I could get through to her.

"Yes, Rachel?" she said on the other end of the line.

"Ceri," I croaked, still swallowing tears. "I think I'm in trouble. With Al."

I heard her take a sharp breath. "What did you do?" she asked.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. How could I admit this to her? But I'd made my bed, now I had to sleep in it. "I had sex with Al."

I fully expected a stream of little elf tirade, but what I got was an "I'm sorry."

"Am I bad?" I said smally and feeling stupid.

"Having sex with him once is nothing compared to what I had to do," she said, and I could feel the offense in her voice.

"I'm sorry, Ceri, I just don't have anyone to talk to. You are the only one who knows. But I did it consensually. That's the worst bit."

"No," said Ceri. "That's not the worst bit. I promise you, nonconsensual sex with Al is unimaginably worse."

"I don't know why I did it. I mean, I wanted to do it, but I don't know why."

"Gally is cruel and tender. Did he ever tell you how he took me away?" she asked.

I sniffed. "No."

"It was my wedding night. We had been seeing each other for many years. Unmarried elves of royal blood were encouraged to summon demons, but it was forbidden once one was married. I summoned him… to say goodbye. I took my circle down willingly and he took me away."

"Why did you take your circle down?" I asked.

"Because I loved him. I loved him more than I loved my fiancée and between the two I chose him. He told me he loved me. He had a very different definition of that word than I."

I didn't speak. I had known she had some feelings for Al, but I assumed it was some sort of Stockholm syndrome thing. I didn't know she had loved him before, had _chosen_ him.

"Like I said, he is cruel and tender. He plays the parts of both captor and lover well. He can be very charming, when he feels like it, but only when it suits him."

"What should I do? I have to go back there next weekend."

"Well, I don't know what he wants with you," she said brusquely. "If he meant to enslave you, he would have." She paused. "But, there is one possibility. In my time, marriages were arranged to cement alliances and provide children of good bloodlines. I was engaged to my fiancée because he was the only other royal one of elf blood in the area as well as being a rival family. It did not matter if I particularly liked him, the idea was that we would spend so much time together out of necessity we would come to some sort of understanding. Perhaps it is so with you and Al. Training you is just a courtesy. Getting one more female demon is good, but your worth resides in your ability to bear children. Perhaps the higher-ups, Newt, in particular, have decided to put you two together until you produce an offspring. Otherwise, Newt would have just taken you by now."

I was so pissed. I was _not_ going to be a part of Newt's little mating experiment. "Does Al know about this?!" I asked.

"I said it was just a theory. It might be completely false. But if it is true, Al may or may not know. He is in poor standing, and they would expect him to try to sleep with you anyway. That's the way demons are."

"Do you think I could be _pregnant_?" I asked. I knew my children would be demons, but I had always only considered witch fathers. I didn't know if my genetic code was _that_ compatible with demons.

"I really don't know. Would you like me to ask Trent?"

"No!" I said. "Do not tell him I slept with Al. We are finally at a place where he is not trying to kill me. Please."

"If you think it's best. Perhaps Al will know," she said, but at that moment, Jenks zipped into the room. He was glowing red. Crap, he'd heard.

"Ceri, I gotta go," I said, and hung up.

"Please tell me by 'slept with Al' you mean you had a slumber party?" he asked.

"I screwed up, okay? That's what Ivy and I were fighting about."

"Tink's contractual hell, Rache, that is the worst possible thing you could have done. I can't even think of anything worse than sleeping with Al, a demon, your teacher. Absolutely none of that is okay—"

"Jenks, just stop. Ivy already let me have it. I really, really screwed up. So if you aren't offering a solution, could you please just shut up? I have to make a call."

"What? He didn't call you the morning after?" Jenks sneered. This was so awful.

"I need to find out if I'm carrying his demon spawn!" I yelled, half wailing, and rain into the kitchen where I kept my scrying mirror.

I slammed my hand down into it and yelled "Al! Algaliarept! Al! Pick up!" A hot tear spilled onto my hand and I was even more angry with myself.

_Hello, cupcake_, he purred into my brain.

I concentrated on forming a coherent thought, but before I could, he said, _By the two worlds, Rachel, you've gone round this twist. Sometimes this happens to people after sleeping with me, but I really thought you were stronger than that. I'm pulling you over to have a look at you._

I wished I had more time to get myself together. I was _not_ going to cry at Al's place. I reached up to wipe the wetness from beneath my eyes, but soon enough I didn't have a hand to reach with or a face, for that matter. I materialized in Al's workroom, sitting on his table and glad I wasn't in his bedroom. I didn't want to look at him.

He came forward and tried to look into my eyes. I aimed a kick at his stomach and realized I wasn't wearing any shoes. He stepped back and caught my foot. "Now, Rachel," he said, all highbrow English accent. "Play nice." He stepped forward, wrapping my leg around him so my foot was behind his back. "Where's my pretty kitty from last night, hmm?" he asked as he leaned over and licked my neck, right over my vampire bite.

"Keep off of that," I said.

"I normally disdain vampire bites, but this one is mine, remember?"

I remembered his dripping fangs in the library basement and it didn't make me want to be this close to him. I tried to push him away, but found only unyielding muscle.

"I don't want to sleep with you," I said.

"Such a pity," he breathed into my ear.

"I want to know if I can get pregnant by a demon, i.e., you."

He pulled back from me, his hands on my bare arms. "Hmmm, I don't' know. Let's find out, shall we?" He climbed on top of me and damn me if it didn't send a rush of blood down to my groin to feel his hard muscles on me again.

"Al, no," I said.

"Rachel, there's no point resisting anymore. You've already done it. You're already—oh what did that coven witch say—a filthy demon sexpot."

That was it. Twin rivers of hot, salty tears fell from my eyes silently. Since I was lying down, they fell towards my hairline instead of down my cheeks. Al had gone back to licking my ear when he must have tasted it and looked up at me. "Oh, now, itchy witch, what are all these crocodile tears for?" He picked me up and carried me to the ugly screaming face and I was afraid he was going to take me back to his bedroom.

"Don't take me back there!" I yelled, but we went to the Library instead. He sat down and lay me out so my head was in his lap.

"Oh, itchy witch, what has gotten into you? You'd think I'd forced myself on you from all this wailing."

I had lost it. "This is exactly what I didn't want," I said.

"Really?" he asked. "Are you sure? Because I asked you and you told me you wanted it. I didn't curse you into it or make you do anything. You said—"

"I know what I said. I meant the crying. But I'd take it back now if I could."

"And why is that?" He was petting my hair and being very nice and I hated him for it.

"Because now everybody hates me. Including me."

"Really, Rachel. So you finally slept with me? You have so many years ahead of you. It's a small thing, really. I've slept with loads of people."

I felt worse, then. About everything. About not dying and about Al and his history. I felt so small and powerless and I absolutely hated it. I weirdly wished for my dad at this point. He'd tell me I wasn't a sexpot. "Am I really a sexpot?" I asked, since Al was the only one around not yelling at me.

"I don't even know what a sexpot is. But when I find out, I'm getting one." He was joking, and I couldn't help laughing at his awful humor. His jokes were always funny, they were just about awful things. "If I had an idea of what a sexpot was, I'd say that I've met many, many sexpots, and you are not one. I've told you, you're worth a lot more than that."

"When did you tell me that?" I asked. I didn't remember that.

"When we switched names back and I asked you to come live in the Ever-After. You could be respected here. You are worth so much more than they are ever going to give you over there."

"But I belong there," I said.

"Do you?" he asked. I wanted to curl up and sleep. Sleep, and then wake up and start over.

"Uh huh. Ivy and Jenks wouldn't have gotten so mad if they didn't care about me. This is your fault."

"Rachel, I have tolerated your needless crying, but I will not tolerate you blaming me. It takes two or more people to have consensual sex. You consented. I don't see what this 'fault' you are talking about is, but it is clearly shared. Please, have some personal accountability."

But that was the worse part. That I ahd wanted to have sex with a demon.

"You are demon kin, Rachel. It's not a crime to sleep with your own kind."

"You said you wouldn't break my heart afterward," I said quietly. I felt so bad I didn't really care what I said or how stupid it was.

"I'm not breaking your heart, Rachel."

I sat up and looked at him, realizing it was true. "Ivy and Jenks are only trying to help."

Al huffed. "I suppose so. In their own misguided way."

I realized I wanted him to hold me so I didn't feel so awful. If he loved me everything would be okay and I would be justified. But that's not the way it works. Demons don't love anyone.

He must have seen it in my thoughts because he said, "Rachel, I care about you, but I don't love you." I looked away. "Don't act so hurt. You don't love me either." I realized this was true. Suddenly I thought of something.

"Are we in some sort of demon mating experiment?" I asked.

Al looked baffled. "Once again, I don't even know what that is."

"It's where Newt makes us be in the same room until we make a demon baby."

"Why would Newt do that?" he asked.

"So there can be a demon baby!"

"I don't believe so. She likes being the only female. She likes the power. That's why she's after you."

"Well what about Dali? He's the one who said you could be my teacher."

"No one wants me to be your teacher, Rachel. They all want you for themselves. I don't think we're in this 'demon baby mating experiment' of yours. Really. I should have finished checking you out in the workroom."

"But could I possibly be pregnant?" I asked. This was important. "And if so, would an earth magic contraception charm work or would I need a demon one?"

"Demons don't have contraception curses, Rachel. We haven't needed one in five thousand years. And it would depend on how close to a demon you are. No one knows. On the one hand, you can't invoke higher witch magic, but on the other you can live in reality during the daylight." He was standing up now and facing the fire. I felt really alone. I wanted him back here. I didn't want to be pregnant and I didn't want to be pregnant alone.

"What happens if I am?"

"Then you come immediately to live here with me where you'll be protected until the baby is born. I don't know what happens then. Newt will probably take it." I had a horrible image of Al and I in his bedroom with a little pink and white cradle with a tiny version of the thing Al turned into to frighten Treble in it, cooing at me. Al was holding a stuffed gargoyle. I wanted to vomit. I'd better not be pregnant. "Perhaps you should ask Trenton Aloysius Kalamack."

"Trent would shoot me on the spot," I said. "Anyone would. Al, I don't want to have your baby."

"Go get yourself a contraception charm. It's the only thing you can do, regardless."

I stood up and walked over to him to put my arms around him. I just didn't want to feel so alone, so I gave in to the need for him to touch me.

He kissed me and said, "Don't fear, Rachel. Demon birthrates were always low. You probably aren't with child. We just aren't quite the child-rearing types. Gets in the way of parties."

I tried to laugh. He reeked of burnt amber, but his coat was soft, and soon I was in the line and back at my church.

* * *

God, that was an angsty chapter! Well, you can't have sex with a demon, come back to your church, tell your vampire and pixy roommates, keep everyone in character, and have it all be hunky dory. I almost want to apologize for all this drama. But let it be known through the hills and plains, I HAVE A PLOT! It just needs some time to settle in. Receive its orders. Fly to Cincinatti.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I wasn't pregnant. It was a few weeks after the Al Incident and the Pregnancy Test Charm in my hand was glowing red. Negative. No horned baby with a tail for this witch. No sir.

I went to the kitchen to uncork a fresh bottle of wine. This called for a celebration. Ivy and Jenks had forgiven me. They were just glad I was "safe," whatever that means. I guess that means home safe. They wanted me to quit seeing Al on weekends, but he and I had a contractual agreement, and demons are serious about their contracts.

We'd gone back to playing school and I was busy in the kitchen stirring curses for him. He didn't really mention it, so I guess it really was a small thing to him, which didn't make me feel very good, but it was the closest to a do-over I had. Sometimes, however, when he was standing behind me watching my work he would run his fingers through my curls, grumbling about what pretty hair I could have. I stifled shivers every time.

I had the corkscrew in my hand when the air pressure shifted. I turned to look for Al.

"Oh, wine. I love wine," he said from behind me. "Either you are celebrating your not-pregnancy or are drinking copiously because of it."

This made me furious. He could have knocked me up. I slid the Pregnancy Test Charm across the counter to him, glowing a nice, warm red.

"A celebration, then!"

"Al, what are you doing here?"

"I've come to check on you. If you were pregnant it would be a wonderful excuse to get you out of this church and into my rooms, where you belong." He looked jovial, but I couldn't tell if he was relieved. I wondered if Al had had any children before Newt killed all the females. "I've brought you something, as well." I watched him pull a vial from his inside pocket. "A little something I dug up from my library. An old, old, old curse, but by modern terms it would be known as contraception. Drink it and fear not the spawn of my demon seed."

I wanted to tell him to quit talking about his demon seed, but I wanted the curse. His words made me remember again, and I saw Al panting above me, me writhing beneath him. It put butterflies in my stomach. I took the vial from him. "Did anything nasty go into this?" I asked.

"Just take it, Rachel. You won't get pregnant for a lunar cycle."

I held it tight in my hand. "And what makes you think I'll need demon contraception in the next lunar cycle?"

He moved closer to me, his hands around my waist. "Let's call it a bet, dove."

I breathed in sharply and tilted my head back, away from him. He took the opportunity to nuzzle my neck, breathing in deeply. "Delicious," he pronounced.

_Better safe than sorry_, I thought, and drank the liquid in the vial. It tasted awful, and I quickly poured myself a large glass of wine and drank it quickly. I felt a little lightheaded. I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, and I hadn't eaten much then out of nerves.

Al began looking around the kitchen for another glass. I walked over and got him one, pouring him a glass. _Might as well celebrate together_, I thought.

Al walked into the living room and began looking through the CDs. Jenks was asleep and I didn't want him to wake up. Ivy was "out". No details. I picked up the bottle along with my glass and followed him. He had put on something with a medium tempo and a sexy, electronic beat. It was one of Ivy's. I drank more of my wine. Ivy wasn't going to be happy when she came home to a church that smelled like burnt amber, but the damage was done.

Al drank his wine and smiled at me with his blocky, white teeth. "Dance with me, Rachel. Let's celebrate."

Some part of my brain knew what he was doing, but another part wanted him to, so I just went along with it. If we were being absolutely honest, sex with Al was great. Top shelf. Like nothing I'd ever experienced before, and hell, it was a rush being that close to something that powerful. Power just dripped from every inch of his body and it felt wonderful to be there with him.

I poured myself some more wine. I did not want to be sober when Ivy came home. I was celebrating, damn it. I took his outstretched hand and he wrapped one hand around my waist.

"Just follow my lead," he whispered into my ear, and we did some sort of slow dance step around the room.

_Damn this wine's gone to my head. Shouldn't have drank on an empty stomach_. I realized my head was resting on his shoulder, but it felt so heavy I didn't want to lift it up. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted and I was _ecstatic_. I was pleased as punch. "I'm not pregnant!" I whooped and kissed Al on the lips. _Damn, he was good at kissing. Why was he so good at kissing?_ "Algaliarept, why are you so good at kissing?" I asked giggling.

"Practice, darling. I do believe you drank your wine rather quickly. This is like the time you escaped Brooke's drugged darts at the university."

I thought of Brooke. She had called me a sexpot. "Ha. Now whose the filthy demon sexpot, Brooke?"

Al laughed quietly. "I rather like you when you're drunk," he said.

"I am not drunk," I said. "I've barely had anything at all!"

"If you say so, itchy witch."

This music was so sexy. Why was Ivy's music so sexy? I leaned up against Al. I could feel his erection through his pants. I reached a hand down to feel. "Wow, Al, you're easy," I said.

"I've spent a long time alone in my kitchen. Longer than I have in several millennia. And Pierce is no good. I don't have his soul, see, and he won't touch me, not even when I look like you."

I pulled away from him. This was weird. He was telling me he was a horny old demon?

"I must say, Pierce was very upset when I asked him to make the contraception curse for you. We had a terrible row."

My heart sank. Pierce. Al came close again and whispered in my ear, "I guess he doesn't like sharing."

Crap. "How long have you known?" I asked.

"Since I saw him after it happened. I'm not as dumb as you two seem to think I am. I can tell these sorts of things. I've had many years of experience." He layered "experience" with double meanings and it made me tremble. "At first I was upset that he had gotten to you first, but after seeing his face tonight, it was worth it."

"You're using me to get back at your familiar?!"

"No, Rachel. I've wanted you since I first tasted your blood in the library. I wished I could have had you there. But it was worth the wait."

I was weirdly flattered. Al was a man of a discerning taste. Crap. I had to quit thinking of him as a man.

He ran his hand down my back and up under my shirt. "I know you want this. I can feel it in you," he said into my ear, his hot breath sliding across my flesh. Other than his demon eyes, he was the most beautiful male to ever express interest in me, and even his eyes didn't seem so strange anymore.

Then we kissed, hot and strong, and he lay me down on the couch. He was bad. Unremorsefully, uncompromisingly bad, and I wanted him. My heart was pounding. I could feel the rush moving through my veins. "Not here," I said, thinking of my roommates. I opened my eyes and saw Rex looking at me from the doorway in a judgmental cat sort of way.

He jumped us straight to his bed. He got up off me and walked to a cabinet. "Wha? Where are you going?" I asked.

He pulled out a bottle marked in a strange scratchy, scrawling language. "I do love a good drunk fuck," he said, and uncapped the bottle and took a long draw. He came over to me and put the bottle to my lips. I opened them and the sweet liquid poured in. It tasted vaguely like cherries and port. I opened my eyes and the room swam before me. Al took another long draw. Apparently it took him a lot to get drunk. This was potent stuff. He finished the bottle and threw it aside casually. I realized his coat was off and saw it lying on the floor between here and the cabinet. I could see his thick chest breathing heavily underneath his thin linen shirt. He looked like the cover of a paperback romance novel, but with red-orange goat eyes. I wondered briefly if they made romance novels about demons. Someone out there had to have a demon fetish. And it was me, apparently.

Al's alien eyes were currently glazed over from alcohol. I was turned on, but also vaguely afraid of what an unbridled Algaliarept might do to me. The fear turned me on more.

With an animalistic grunt he climbed on top of me, pressing me down into the bed. I struggled, making a play for dominance, but he was much stronger than me. I loved this game. It's just I usually won. It was fun being bested by this beast on top of me. I ran my hand down his muscular back and pushed his shirt up. He removed it and straddled me, his pants still on. "Now you," he said roughly and before I knew it I was naked. I tried to push him down and he let me, lying back onto the bed while I undid his pants. I slid them down around his knees and noticed this time that Al did not wear underwear. I saw him fully hard and exposed and covered it with my mouth. He moaned and lay back. I licked it from base to tip, swirling my tongue at the end. His breathing became heavy and he said something I didn't understand. I took this as a good sign and continued, quickening my pace. His hips bucked beneath my head, my red hair spilling all over. He grabbed a chunk of my hair and pulled. I looked up at him and his red eyes opened and met mine. I pulled my mouth of slowly and moved up to his face, pinning his arms with mine. He let me hold him down, though he could have had me on my back and pinned to the bed in a split second. I ran my hand over his arm muscles and smiled. He had had millennia to perfect his appearance and he had done well. Benefit of screwing a demon.

"Rachel," he growled, his voice lower and more gravelly than usual. It reminded me of his voice when he was that naked devil. "I knew you liked being on top." I kissed him. He better not care where my mouth had been. I was sure his mouth had been worse places. I mounted him and grabbed the headboard for support. I groaned as he slid into me, filling me up like witch men never did. I could feel the power radiating from him into me, without him doing anything. Then I leaned over and bit his neck, right where he had bitten me. My flat, witch teeth didn't break his skin, but he cried out in surprise. I caressed the spot with my tongue to counterbalance the brief moment of pain. Ha. Revenge on him for biting me. Then out of nowhere I bit down again lightly and sucked at his flesh in my mouth. He made a moan of pleasure and pain and I sat up and began moving up and down. His breathing grew heavy. I loved this little piece of dominance. He was always telling me what to do. Now I was in charge.

I decided I would like to test his endurance. I rode him faster and faster until I came hard, throwing my head back, then slowed my pace before I built it back up again. He moaned and groaned, his hips moving underneath me, but he stayed hard.

I don't know how long it was later, but my breath was coming in sharp gasps. He was still hard inside me. I was exhausted. I considered circling him and commanding him to come, but I ran my fingers through his hair and pulled so he would open his eyes from where they had been fluttering. "Algaliarept," I said. "Come now. I can't take it!"

And with that the balance shifted. He pounced on me, flipping me onto my back. "Just lie back, Rachel Mariana Morgan," he said, and I complied. Horrible waves of pleasure were building up and I thought I would die if I orgasmed again. My brain would turn to jelly and I would be no more.

"Al!" I gasped. "I can't take it!"

"Shh," he said. "We'll finish together." He quickened his pace and I was past the point of no return. I closed my eyes and screamed, and with one big push that I thought was going to knock me off the bed, he stopped, yelling my name long and loud.

I just lied back and breathed. Between the sex and the alcohol, I couldn't think. I opened my eyes to see Al above me, muscles tense, looking down at me and smiling. It wasn't his usual devious smirk though, but I didn't make the brain power to figure out what it was. He ran his hand up and down my body, saying something I didn't understand again in that weird language I had only heard him use a few times, before collapsing on top of me. He said it again and again like a chant into the mattress between my head and shoulder. I tried to memorize the sounds. I wanted to know what he was saying. It sounded a bit like "Kah-rik uh kah-chrarhn" but strangely reptilian. I couldn't say it if I tried. All that syntax thing he was always going on about. Then Al seemed to relax and go to sleep on top of me. He had had a lot from that bottle. I looked up at the canopy above the bed and watched it swim in front of me. When I woke up, I would feel terrible, but right now, I felt perfect. I inhaled Al's musky scent underneath the burnt amber that I hardly noticed anymore and fell asleep with my arms around him.

It was our second morning after together. Al had offered me coffee but I thought I should be getting home. Ivy and Jenks would be worried. I asked to be sent back.

He raised one eyebrow at me. "Then back you shall go." He gripped my arm and I dissolved into a though, reappearing in my kitchen filled with daylight alone. At least, without him. When I looked around, I saw I certainly wasn't alone. Ivy, Ceri, and Jenks were all in the kitchen staring at me.

Jenks was flying around in angry circles. "Somebody hit her!" he said. "Somebody smack some sense into her! I'm too small! Ceri, hit her."

Ceri looked pissed. Ivy looked relieved, then furious. Ivy took a long halting breath and said flatly, "I come home to a house that reeks of Ever-After in the middle of the week and you're gone."

"I'm sorry," I said lamely. "I had too much wine and…"

"Drinking wine with a demon! Did you enjoy your little date night? It's not enough we have to spend all weekend wondering if we're going to see you again?"

I stopped. I didn't know they worried about me on the weekends.

"Guys, I'm fine. Everything is fine. The only thing that's not fine is how you guys are making me feel about this!"

Ivy sniffed. "You smell like sex and burnt amber. Go take a shower."

I looked at Ceri, standing silently. "What's Ceri doing here?" I asked.

"We thought you had been dragged off by a demon. I came to help," she said coldly.

"Thank you, Ceri, very much, but I didn't need it. I was fine."

Ivy left the room, unable to take the scents of high emotion. Jenks buzzed once around me and followed her, ranting about Tink's tampons and demons. It was just Ceri and I.

"You enjoyed yourself, then?" she asked coolly.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Why are you apologizing? That you made a mistake? It's not a mistake if you make it twice."

I thought about this for a moment. "Can I ask you a question?" I didn't feel right asking anything of her, but if anyone could tell me what Al had said before he fell asleep, it was Ceri.

"I suppose," she said, not losing her cool tone.

"Do demons have their own language?"

"Yes, though they hardly use it anymore. It's very old, and hardly any of the familiars can understand it. It took me a millennium to get down some basic phrases."

"What does kah-rik uh kah-chrarhn mean?" I asked, trying to recreate the sounds Al had made.

Ceri became even more still. "It is an expression. Literally, it most nearly means 'dear one' or 'beloved one', but it's meaning is closest to the English phrase 'I love you'."

"Does it really mean 'I love you' like we think of 'I love you'?"

"More or less, yes. As far as I can tell."

He had said he didn't love me. But I guess wasted-drunk-out-of-his-mind Al had different feelings for me, or at least a different criteria for love. I remembered what Ceri had said about his definition being different.

"Like love love?" I asked. "Not just sexual love?"

"The emotion, Rachel. Yes. Love of the heart, not of the crotch." She was becoming cross and I remembered how she didn't like explaining things more than once.

"Thank you, Ceri," I said. "For everything. I think I'm going to take Ivy's advice and shower."

* * *

Don't ever say I never did anything for you. *pops bubblegum bubble and walks away*


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I was sitting in my kitchen. I wanted to curl up in my bed but I didn't feel like I deserved it after what I had done to my friends. Pierce sat across the table, not looking at me. For the past few weeks, we—Ivy, Jenks, and I—had decided to keep Al and my then one-night stand a secret from him. It would upset him and I didn't need him to go and do something stupid. Again. _Like try to kill Al. Again._

"Pierce?" I said.

"Yes, mistress witch?" He had gone back to addressing me formally.

I couldn't think of anything to say. I just wanted to test how mad he was. "How are you?" I asked.

"I am of a mind that it would be best not to speak with one another."

"Oh." I said. _Might as well get it over with._ "So you don't have anything to say to me?"

"I have many a thing to say to you, mistress witch, but I was brought up to not speak harshly to a lady, and anything I would have to say to you should never fall upon a lady's ears." He said this while staring out of the window over the sink. At least I was still a lady.

This was uncomfortable. I guess I would be buying my own new splat gun. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid?" I asked, but he said nothing. I suddenly wondered where he was last night when Al came over. "Hey, where were you last night?" I asked.

"Out," he said, got up, and left the room.

I didn't like this. I didn't like it at all. Jenks came in from the garden and stood on the table in front of me in his Peter Pan pose. "I still can't believe you. Ceri's right. It's not a mistake if you do it twice."

I wondered if he had heard the other thing Ceri said, but decided not to bring it up. "Where is she?" I asked.

"With the children in the garden," he answered.

"And Ivy?"

"Made a phone call and went 'out'."

I felt so guilty. Ivy had probably gone out to feed and would hate herself afterward. And I would hate myself for making her hate herself.

"Listen, can we all just calm down? I'm a big girl. I can make my own decisions. Ceri said if Al were going to drag me off into the Ever-After permanently he would have done it already, and she would know. I'm probably safer in the Ever-After than I am here."

Jenks stood silently then buzzed up into the air. "You've really done it now, Rache. First you sleep with Pierce, then you go get his panties in a twist by sleeping with Al. You've seen Pierce when he gets his panties in a twist. People get hurt, Rachel."

"What do you think he's gonna do?" I asked.

"I'd say up his schedule for killing Al." My heart sank. It was like an old western. This town wasn't big enough for the two of them. One was going to kill the other. Pierce pissed me off sometimes, but the thought of him dead—again—made my stomach go in a knot. And the thought of Al dying… it seemed so unfathomable. I remembered what Al had said when Pierce took me gun. He said that Pierce could have killed him, "me," he said, "who has survived _everything_." Al was an institution. It would be like delivery pizza going out of style. _If I don't have Al, then whose going to protect me?_ _Whose going to teach me to jump lines and make light from nothing?_ I really needed to learn how to jump lines and that light curse could be damn useful in a cinch. I didn't like to admit to needing protecting, but I had to admit sometimes I needed Al to back me up. Without Al, I was just a liability with no power to go along with it to protect myself. There was no reason to just off me in the night. I wondered if I was murdered if Al would go and find them. I remembered the time Piscary had him kill those ley line witches and winced. At least I would be properly avenged and I would know Ivy and Jenks wouldn't go kill themselves. No one could kill Al. _Except maybe Pierce._ Now I _really_ wanted to know where he was last night.

I remembered Pierce's ability to hear over long distances, so I got up and got a piece of paper and a pen and started writing. _Jenks—Pierce has been disappearing. I think he's been preparing to kill Al and you're right about him trying to kill him sooner now. Can you tail him?_

"Protecting Al, huh?" he said condescendingly.

I put a finger to my lips and wrote below my original message. _People are going to get hurt._

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Jenks. "You got it Rache. I don't trust him, never have." He flitted out of the room, presumably to go see what Pierce was up to.

I picked up the paper and put it down the disposal. Jeez, I felt like I was in a spy movie. Pierce was going to attack Al and I was betting that there would be some collateral damage. I didn't think you could take out Al quickly and quietly in his sleep. I didn't even think he slept anymore unless he had some sort of strategic reason to. _Like seducing me_. Or if he was super wasted, maybe. Or post-coital. I guess all guys really _do_ fall asleep after they bump uglies. Even demon guys.

I found myself wanting to talk to Al and mentally smacked myself. Nope. I was not going mushy over that violent, manipulative, kidnapping, murdering, conniving demon, even if he did show me a certain amount of kindness. And "love", apparently. Demon love. Somehow I didn't trust it. I wasn't even sure if I trust plain old love here in reality. _Kisten_, I thought like a prayer to the dead, _I'm so fucked up. _I went to my room to think about what I was going to say to Ivy when she got back.

That evening, Ivy came home. She looked relaxed but miserable. I guessed now was as good as time as any since she had just slaked her bloodlust. I suddenly wondered how Glenn was doing. I hoped she was going somewhere else for blood, at least now. "Hey, Ivy?" I said.

She turned in the hall to face me. "Yes, Rachel?" Her voice was like gray silk.

"I was thinking. We sort of have this agreement where we just don't mention what you do when you go 'out'. We just sort of move past it and don't let it affect our relationship. So I was thinking maybe we could do the same thing for me." I took a deep breath. "I like sleeping with Al. While it makes it more complicated with Al and me, it also sort of makes it easier. So how about we agree to put what we do on the weekends aside and try to keep things the way they are. I like our friendship, Ivy. I don't wanna lose it."

Ivy blinked at me in surprise. I suddenly realized how mature I had just sounded. _Yeah, Rachel. Taking personal accountability._ That phrase struck a chord in my memory and I suddenly realized I was taking life advice from Al. But this felt like it was good, so maybe this time it was okay. I guess after his few millennia on earth and beyond he could teach me a thing or two about maturity. Maybe.

"Just… be safe." Ivy sounded unsure. I guess so far I wasn't very good at keeping myself safe.

"I think I'm actually safer in the Ever-After than I am here in reality, considering these past few weeks."

"Yeah," said Ivy.

"But I belong here too. I'm not gonna move into the Ever-After with Al. I'm staying right here in our church. I deserve it after what I've been through to stay here. I'm not going anywhere."

Then Ivy did something completely weird and totally unexpected. She hugged me. It was quick, especially so with her vampire speed, but it was warm all the same. I hugged her back. I loved her. Who knew if it was "more than a sister's love" or whatever Pierce had called it, but I loved her. Not that I was going to start trying to have a blood balance with her. Or a sex balance, for that matter. No need to make this demon-black witch-witch/demon love triangle a demon-black witch-witch/demon-living vampire love square. Or would it be a rectangle? Screw geometry, it would be bad.

Suddenly Al's words that they were all going to die floated though my head and I hugged Ivy tighter. We broke apart and she looked me in the eyes with her brown irises and said, "Be safe." I would try my very damnedest.

I spent the rest of my night in my room. I heard the car pull up to take Ceri home. I bet Trent wasn't too happy about her coming to visit me. It was good to know she'd come when I needed her. Or when people thought I needed her. Sometime passed midnight I pulled on some black cotton shorts and a camisole and crawled into bed, which was what I had wanted to do all day. I fell asleep quickly.

Some time around three, I woke up to someone playing Champs Elysées. I walked into the living room to see what was going on. It was Al. Of course.

"Jeez, Al, how often are you going to keep doing this?" I asked indignantly. "This isn't going to be like a nightly thing."

Al just grinned, his white blocky teeth showing in the dark.

"And you aren't wearing any pants!" I whispered loudly. He was just in his linen shirt, his coat, pants, and socks resting neatly over the arm of a chair with his shoes neatly on the floor underneath them. Once again, Al was not wearing underwear. I wondered if he had _ever_ worn underwear all the time I had known him.

"You're in your pajamas. I'm in mine."

"Do you ever wear underwear?"

"Only if it's worth wearing. For instance, my Rachel Morgan disguise is complete with black, lacey panties. While you may be lacking in taste in other areas, your sense of underwear fashion is dead on."

I concentrated very hard on just looking at his face. My eyes kept flicking down to his genitalia. They looked so innocuous lying there flaccid, but I knew better. "For the love of the Turn, put some pants on, will you?"

He did not comply, but a sheet of Ever-After coated him and suddenly he was wearing a nightshirt, similar to the shirt he wore usually, but longer. It had the same nineteenth century look as his green velvet frock coat outfit.

"Where's your nightcap?" I asked sarcastically. I was not pleased about his showing up in the middle of the night.

"My dear Rachel, it is not nearly cold enough to wear a nightcap, though perhaps a different sort of nightcap is in order. Shall I make us some drinks? Toddies all right with you?"

"Nope. I'm not getting drunk and sleeping with you tonight, Al. You'd probably better leave before Pierce hears you."

"Nathanial Gordian Pierce is not currently in this building."

"Well where is he?" I asked.

"I could find him easily enough, but I thought we could wait up for him together. Are you sure you don't want a Toddie?" He clearly had ulterior motives. I just wasn't sure what _all_ of them were.

"I don't want a drink, Al."

"Ovaltine, perhaps?"

"I don't drink Ovaltine. What do you want, Al?"

"Oh, I'd not turn down a cup of coffee, thank you for offering. You can be quite the hostess when you're in the mood, Rachel."

"I meant why are you here?"

"I am here," he said slowly in his prim accent, "because I am investigating the runt's nocturnal activities."

"Are you finally taking the threat seriously? He's pissed, Al. I think he might be trying to move up his timetable."

"Firstly, his threat is no more serious than before. As you can see, I am still one step ahead of the paltry little demon slayer. Secondly, I shall give him a sound beating for leaving his charge. I'll not have someone breaking in while you slept and you getting yourself into trouble. Newt would have you before you could blink."

"If you keep doing this, this place is going to reek of burnt amber twenty-four seven."

"And what a lovely addition that would be. As of now it reeks of hyped up vampire and redwood."

"You stay there," I ordered, then went back to my bedroom. I got the perfume Ivy gave me that masked my scent from her. It was expensive, but I got enough of this smell on the weekends. No way I was having it in my home. I walked into the living room and gave Al a good few sprays.

"Now I'll just smell like burnt amber and cheap perfume. Really, Rachel—"

"It's not cheap. Ivy gave it to me. It's supposed to get rid of scents. When I wear it, she can't smell me. I probably just sprayed you with twenty bucks worth so it had better work on demons too."

Al lifted his sleeve to his nose and sniffed. He made a slight face but seemed otherwise satisfied. I never knew what was going through his head. Was he pissed about the perfume, intrigued, or didn't care?

"Fascinating," he said. "Perhaps I'll spray you with it when you come on the weekends."

"Well you can buy it yourself because I don't even know how much this costs." I set the bottle on the table. "I still don't understand why you are in pajamas."

"I thought we could have a little slumber party while waiting for Pierce. I'm sure you are just as interested in his nocturnal activities as I am."

"So you did it to aggravate Pierce? Can't you just jump to him?"

Al's face wrinkled in distaste. "He's on holy ground. Again. And I don't feel like waiting outside a church all night for the runt to come out. I much prefer your house, Rachel."

"Well my house doesn't prefer you. Jenks will pix you if he sees you here and I don't even know what Ivy will do. Probably explode from having to fight someone stronger than her." I wondered what Pierce was doing in a Church at this time of night. I doubted he was confessing. I turned the music off and sat down across from Al. No way I was leaving him alone to entertain himself. I wondered briefly what Al did for fun. I thought of him making blue butterflies that died in the snow last winter when I was chasing Mia Harbor.

"Are you just going to sit there like my guard? Really, Rachel, we've made love twice. If you don't trust me now, I don't see what else I can do."

"I wonder how many people trusted you and got rewarded with an eternity of slavery," I said dryly. I didn't like the way he said making love.

He leaned forward and I could see his goat-slitted eyes in the dark. I'd be damned if they weren't glowing just a bit. "But never you, my itchy witch. Never you," he whispered. I was looking into his eyes and I could feel the power moving between us.

I broke his gaze and stood up. "I'm going to put some real clothes on. When I get back you had better have done the same."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, chortling to himself. He was still a patronizing bastard even if I had done my best to fuck his brains out.

I went to my room and pulled on a pair of sweats and changed into a bra and t-shirt. I put on my slippers and grabbed the blanket at the end of my bed, preparing for a long night.

I came back and Al was standing in his usual green outfit. I sat down where I had been and he followed, now beside me. Tricky bastard.

"I feel like my mother," I said, "waiting up for me to get home."

"Oh, does that make me your father?"

"Don't talk about my father. He never waited up for me and you know that."

I didn't want to think about my dad, especially with Al here.

"Well I'm sure you are the only person whose father has ever died," he said.

I did not appreciate that, but the wound was old and the night was long so I didn't say anything. You had to pick your battles with Al. I thought I had about as much of a chance of getting him to quick making wiseass comments as I had with Jenks.

"Would you rather have an undead parent like Miss Ivy Tamwood, who has been eavesdropping since I arrived here?"

I sighed and closed my eyes. I hoped Pierce got home soon. Ivy's door opened and too quickly she was at the door. "My head would not explode," she said. I blushed.

"Well, we might as well make coffee now," I said and walked to the kitchen. "Might as well get Jenks and Bis too, since the gangs all here now," I said sarcastically. I felt a slight breeze on the back of my neck and turned around. Bis had just dropped from the ceiling.

"I'm sorry, Rachel," the teen gargoyle said. "I didn't mean to spy. I've been watching him since he got here. I wanted to make sure you were safe."

"It's alright, Bis," I said. "You're a good kid. Any idea where Pierce went?"

"No. He must have gone into the lines. I didn't see him leave. He must have been slipping past me and Jenks. I'll go get him," he said and took off toward the garden.

I heard yelling in the yard and braced myself. In a matter of seconds, Jenks flew into the kitchen at remarkable speed holding his sword. "Filthy demon!" he yelled and charged Al, who went misty and rematerialized with his fist around Jenks. With his other hand he plucked the sword out of his hand and tossed it aside.

I wheeled around. "Hey, you leave him alone!"

Jenks looked at me with hate in his eyes. "You're siding with _it_ now?" he said, going back to what we had called Al before Ceri told us demons had gender.

I stood baffled for a second. "No! I was talking to Al! Let go of Jenks!"

"You reek worse than fairy farts!" said Jenks. "What the hell are you doing here in the middle of the night!" He was talking big even as he struggled to get out of Al's grip. Ivy was still. I stomped over and considered hitting Al. He'd either go misty and Jenks could fly away or I would hit him and Al would react. Probably not positively. "What are you going to do to Rachel!?"

"I am not here for Rachel," said Al. "Has it escaped your notice that Pierce has been leaving almost every night for _weeks_, pixy?"

Jenks stopped struggling. Apparently he hadn't. That hit him right in his pride.

"Let him go!" I yelled and compromised on grabbing Al's wrist. I didn't want Ivy and Jenks to see my get smacked by Al. That would only escalate things.

Al let go of Jenks to grab my arm. He pulled me close and said angrily, "Very well." He let me go roughly and Ivy twitched, moving ever so slightly closer to him. Shit.

"Everybody calm down," I said, and opened a window to let some air in for Ivy. "We are just going to wait here till Pierce gets back. Then we can find out what's going on."

Everyone was silent so I took that as agreement.

"I want my coffee strong," said Al, and sat down at the table. I wanted to throw something at him but wanted everyone to chill the hell out more. Jenks buzzed angrily from side to side, but didn't attack. He had sheathed his sword. Ivy got herself together and came to help with the coffee. I was glad I didn't have to get up early tomorrow. I was sure as hell sleeping in.

Al tried to make small talk with me and mostly ignored the presence of Ivy and Jenks. Sometime during the night, Bis and Jenks left to go watch for Pierce's return, just in case he came from outside. I watched the world grow slowly lighter outside. Everything was illuminated by a pale blue pre-dawn light, and I looked at Al. No Pierce.

"Maybe he knows you are here and is waiting till you have to leave," I suggested.

"Perhaps," said Al quietly. He was thinking. I could tell that much. "But he's risking getting caught by you. Perhaps he doesn't care anymore."

My heart about stopped. _He's not coming back_. I'd run off another one. Good job, Rache. Well done. Left again.

"I told you he would break your heart," said Al. "Maybe now you won't let him get you _killed_."

Ivy spoke up for the first time. "He'll be back. He still needs to kill Al."

Al looked at her over his smokey glasses. He clearly did not appreciate that comment.

"Maybe now he'll throw me in too, for kicks and giggles, on his death list," I threw in faux-cheerfully.

Al stood up. "Thank you for your hospitality, Rachel. It's been lovely, but I must be going. I have plans to adjust." He tugged at the lace of his shirt and popped back into the Ever-After.

As the sky lightened, my heart darkened. Soon I was sure he wasn't coming back, not until he had a plan to kill Al. I wondered how far he would go and how many people would get hurt. I knew nothing could happen until tonight, at the very soonest, so I crawled back into bed to make up for some sleep I'd lost. I doubted he would attack tonight anyhow. His departure had been sudden and due to Al and my unexpected relations.

I still felt like shit about the whole thing.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I spent the next day trying to pretend I wasn't waiting for Pierce to call. Or send some kind of message, since I didn't know if he was 100% on phones yet. I was worried about what would happen at sundown. Would Newt show up and take me since Al had failed to secure a suitable guardian? Would Pierce show up and try to use me to kill Al?

Around four in the afternoon I began to sneeze. Al was calling me.

_Hello?_ I said, making the connection. I could feel Al in my head.

_Good evening, Rachel. I have found you a suitable new guardian._

_Al. I do not need a guardian._

_Rachel._ He said, mocking me. _It's either a guardian or Newt._

_Who did you call, anyhow? The demon babysitting service?_

_As if_, he said, the modern phrase sounding out of place with his accent. _It is very difficult to secure one. It is not a common service we require. But I found one. Do you remember dear Hildy, the black witch for hire? She does bodyguard work too, apparently._

_No._

_What? You don't like my ex-lovers hanging around? You like Ceri enough. But this isn't a situation where you get to say 'no', poppet. I'll be over at sundown with Hildy and her things._ He severed the connection before I got a chance to tell him exactly how much I did not need a babysitter especially one who was on America's Most Wanted.

Ivy and Jenks would not be happy.

We assembled ourselves in the kitchen at sundown, figuring that's where Al would appear.

"I think he's jumping her," I said. I was answered by cold silence. At least we were all united against her.

"We should turn her in," said Jenks, "and retire early."

"She's probably thought of that," said Ivy, thinking tactically. "We don't want another scene like she made in Detroit."

"And how will I explain why she was here in the first place?" I asked.

"Jeez, it was just an idea," said Jenks, dropping a few inches in altitude.

It was dark outside and the kitchen was empty.

"They're in the graveyard," said Ivy, able to hear them from this distance. I wheeled around to look. Sure enough, two figures emerged from the dark and stepped up onto the porch. Hildy had a suitcase. Lovely. She wasn't the last person I wanted in my church, but she was up there on the list. Way up there.

I opened the screen door, not smiling. Al came in first, Hildy carrying her suitcase.

"Hi!" she said, cheerfully. "Remember me?"

I nodded and didn't smile.

"You live in a church? Wow. I read about that. With a vampire and a pixy? I guess that's you two, huh?" she said, holding out her hand to Ivy. She seemed so friendly. She was clearly trying to make a good impression. Why?

Ivy looked at her hand with disdain. Hildy retracted it and put it in her jeans pocket. "Oh. Vampires don't shake hands, huh?"

"We do," said Ivy coolly. I watched her face. Her smile didn't go down one watt. If I didn't know better, I would have said she hadn't understood the insult. But you didn't do all the things she did and be that level of stupid.

She turned to Jenks. "Hey, little pixy!" she said, raising her hand and wiggling her fingers in a really girly version of a wave.

"His name is Jenks," I said defensively. "He's our business partner. He owns this church," I said.

Al stood by the wall watching. He looked smug. He was enjoying this, dammit.

"Well, I'm Hildy Roberson. Nice to meet you," she said. I trusted her good manners about as much as I trusted her friendly attitude. She had ripped people apart.

"Rachel Morgan," I said. "Ivy Tamwood. Jenks." I pointed to each of them in turn. "You can drop the nice act. We know who you are."

Her face stayed in that cute, girl-next-door expression but I swear her eyes took on an evil glint. "Oh, I was always taught you catch more flies with honey than vinegar." There was a hardness to her smile now and I could see why she got along well with demons. I didn't like her trying to make us her "flies".

I turned to Al, still leaning up against the wall smirking. "What are you smiling about?" I asked defensively.

"It's lovely to see you two together." I suddenly had a horrible image in my head. Two Redheads and a Demon, complete with seventies porno track. No way.

"You'll be staying in the sanctuary," I said and pointed. "You can go ahead and put your stuff by the couch." Only my absolute fear of Newt was letting me allow this bitch in my house. She picked up her bag and walked in the direction I had pointed. "Stay away from the windows!" I yelled at her back. I turned to Al. "Did you ever stop to think what might happen if someone sees her and calls the IS?"

"No need," she said from the doorway. Her clothes were the same, but she looked completely different. She was the same height, but she wasn't so stick skinny anymore. She had a black bob and green eyes. She didn't look so flashy and pretty anymore. "Al threw in this disguise as part of the deal," she said. "You can say I'm your friend from camp! Those records are all sealed anyway so no one will be able to check."

"Except Trent," I said.

"From what I hear, Kalamack already knows pretty much everything. I can stop that, if you like. He must be tailing you. Want me to find his cronies and take 'em out?" she asked.

"No. That's rule number one. We don't kill people," I said.

"Harder that way," she said, but didn't argue. "You still want me to get them off your tail?"

"No," Ivy answered. "That will alert Trent to your presence. He would use the fact that we are harboring a federal criminal to his advantage."

"Yeah," I agreed. "You aren't even here, got it?"

She nodded. "Like a ninja. Cool. I'm going to go familiarize myself with the layout."

"I'll show you," said Ivy. I knew she wasn't being hospitable, she just wanted Hildy wandering the church on her own as much as I did.

Jenks, Al, and I stood in almost silence. Jenks' wings were the only sound. "Oooh, Ivy doesn't like me. She's jealous," said Al and I picked up a towel lying on the counter and threw it at him. Before it reached him it burst into flame and fell to the floor. I jumped forward to stamp it out before it melted the linoleum. Al was there in a second, grabbing my wrist and twisting it.

"We don't throw things, Rachel," he said severely.

Jenks buzzed around angrily. "You pussy-bitch of a demon! Can't even take a rag being throw at you!"

Al let go of me and turned toward Jenks. I put myself in between Al and where Jenks was flying. _No, no, no_, I thought. "It's not the act," said Al coldly and I was afraid. "It is the disrespect it signifies that I won't tolerate. Just as I won't tolerate being called a 'pussy-bitch'. If you _ever_ speak to me that way again, I will burn your pixy brood to a crisp and cut off your wings so you can watch." Jenks' wings stopped moving and he dropped about a foot before he caught himself. Then he flew out of the room and I didn't know if it was in disgust with me for sleeping with Al or from fear.

I looked down at the burnt towel. I wanted Al to make nice to Jenks and Jenks to make nice to Al. Then we wouldn't have this problem. "I hate you," I said. "You make all my friends hate me. And I don't have that many."

"If they can't accept this part of your life then they can't accept you. Which is why you should come and live with me," he said. "Even if you do hate me."

"Pierce wants to kill us both."

"It's safe in my bed."

"No it's not. _You're_ in your bed, and you're a hundred times more dangerous than Pierce will ever be."

Al leaned in close to me and put his hands on my hips. "A _thousand_ times more dangerous," he whispered, "but not to you."

I laughed bitterly. "You wanna shake on it?"

He was nuzzling my hair and neck. I stood as still as possible. I was mad at him, no matter how good he smelled underneath the burnt amber reek. "That's a terrible contract," he said. "Far too general. I ought to teach you how to make a good contract. Can't have you running around making flimsy, loophole-filled contracts with demons for the rest of eternity." I twitched. Once again, he mentioned his expectation for me to live indefinitely. Like him. I remembered how I found him in the line. What his trail felt like. Old and bitter and alone. I was afraid that would be me. I wanted to lean into him. As scary, intolerable, and vicious as Al was, it felt nice to be near him. If you're cuddling with the most dangerous thing in the room, nothing else can hurt you. Except it. Him. Al.

But I didn't lean into him. He had made me hurt. I wanted to be able to make him hurt like he could make me hurt, but I had no idea how.

Al pulled out a golden pocket watch and looked at the time. "I have an appointment, now, but I'll be back at my leisure to check on you two sometime. See how you're getting along." Al smiled like a crocodile, or maybe a cat that ate _both_ the canaries. It made me feel like shit, like a conquest, to think that he saw me on the same level as Hildy. And with a pop of displaced air, he was gone.

I turned to face the window and tried to make myself hard inside when my awareness tickled. I turned around to see Hildy standing in the doorway. Damn, she was quiet. I was almost used to it with Ivy now, though, so I didn't jump. Ivy was leaning up against the wall behind Hildy. I knew she was there to keep an eye on us both and so we had Hildy trapped between us if the crap hit the fan. Jenks flitted in and out of the room, around her head, ready for attack. The room was tense.

"I think I'll set up shop in the attic, if you don't mind. It's a good place to stay out of sight while keeping things in sight."

I considered this. There was stuff up there, demon text stuff, not to mention it was where Bis made his home.

"It'll at least be the best place to put my things," she offered. "If someone drops by and sees my bag, they'll ask questions. If my things are in the tower, I can stay up there. Out of sight."

Come to think of it, I liked the idea of Bis keeping an eye on her, especially at night, and if I could move all the demon texts and other stuff out, then it could be a good place for her.

Ivy looked at me silently, waiting for my cue. "Sure," I said. "I'll have to move some things out."

She smiled and said, "Need some help?" and my runner instinct told me she was playing dumb. She didn't tangle with demons routinely and not know when someone was hiding something, which meant that _she_ was hiding something.

"No, thanks. Ivy knows what goes where." I looked pointedly at Jenks, trying to tell him to stay on her. I saw him nod, and knew he got the message. He was good backup.

I walked out of the kitchen a little more quickly than normal with Ivy following behind me, keeping pace with me like a shadow. I held the door to the attic open for her and accidentally slammed it when I went through it.

I looked at Ivy. This was business time. She knew what had to be done. We put the demon texts in boxes and took them down first, followed by the ley line equipment. When we had moved everything magic-related, I contemplated taking the other boxes with mundane things like old clothes out too. They could be used as focusing objects, but then again, if she needed one she could get one easily whether I took the stuff out or not. In the end I moved it just because I didn't like the idea of her going through my stuff.

While I stood there thinking, Bis dropped from the ceiling. "She's staying _here_?" he asked in his gravelly voice.

"Yup," I said. "Keep an eye on her. Jenks' family will help. I want her doing as little as possible. And try to keep her out of our hair." I told him. "Please," I added, when I realized how bossy I sounded. Bis didn't deserved to have my attitude about this situation taken out on him.

Ivy came up the stairs. "Those too?" she asked. She wasn't even out of breath from moving.

"Yeah. Just these and then we're done."

While Hildy moved her things upstairs, I looked at my room, now so filled with boxes you'd think I'd just moved in. I decided to put the demon texts in the back of my closet and the rest under my bed. I didn't like the idea of sleeping on demon texts. Surely that wasn't healthy.

I nudged the box with the books towards my closet with a booted foot. I didn't have to open it to see if it was the right one. I could feel it, even through my boot. When I got it into them into the closet, I threw some winter coats over the boxes and put a pair of boots on top, as if to keep the energy from taking the coats off. I closed my closet hard and wondered how long this was going to last.

I went upstairs to check on Hildy and see what she was up to. Ivy stood in the stairwell, watching her like a bird of prey. "What exactly is your agreement with Al?" she asked.

"I agreed to act as Rachel's bodyguard and bravo, to keep her from harm and trouble, and to stop her from doing exceptionally stupid things, fulfilling Newt's wish for Rachel to have a guardian, on behalf of Algaliarept the demon, in return for certain services."

"To be clear," said Ivy, looking at me, "do you work for Al, or do you work for us."

Hildy paused. "I work for Al, who is working on your behalf."

"Working to keep his investment safe," I said bitterly.

"Perhaps," said Hildy, "but that means keeping you safe, which is in your best interests." At least in this moment, she had lost her charm, replacing it with a cool and calculated attitude. This girl was all business.

"Al doesn't know the first thing about my best interests. If he did, he would have left me alone ages ago."

Hildy inclined her head as if to say, "As you wish." It reminded me of how Quen acted toward Trent, which kind of creeped me out. I had a Quen, which would be cool if I was a whiney, spineless bastard like Trent who hid behind his business deals and schmoozing, but ticked me off. I also resolved to look up the word "bravo", which, the last time I checked, was something you said when you applaud.

We went down to the kitchen, leaving Hildy in the attic. Before I shut the door I saw Bis' eyes glowing and knew he was watching her.

"She's a thug," I said.

"She's a warrior," said Ivy.

"She reminds me if Nick," said Jenks.

I agreed. "Exactly. No morals, no values—"

"—no honor," interjected Jenks.

"—yeah, no honor, just doing whatever it takes—" I said.

"—to survive?" finished Ivy, with a raised eyebrow. I thought on that for a moment. I had done things I wasn't proud of to survive.

"I think she's taken it a little farther than just 'survival'," said Jenks and Ivy nodded.

"Tell me you aren't sympathetic to her," I said to Ivy.

"Not sympathetic," she said. "She's a monster. And I understand that."

That shut us all up for a minute.

"Al said he'd be back," I said.

"Did he say when?" asked Ivy.

"Nope. He said he'd be back _at his leisure_." I responded.

"So that could be whenever," said Jenks, clearly unhappy. "Fuck me with Tink's magic wand."

"We can't forget she's working for Al," said Ivy, thinking strategically as usual. "She's an agent of the demons, and that's how we'll treat her."

They were talking like Al was our enemy again. "He's more or less on our side," I pointed out. They looked at me like I had announced that Al and I were going to have a June wedding, hosted by Trent Kalamack. "Okay. Al: demon, and generally a bad guy, but he's on the Keep-Rachel-Safe side of things, and that's our side, right?"

"He's on the Keep-Rachel-Safe-So-He-Can-Drag-Her-Into-The-Ever-Fucking-After side, and he always has been," huffed Jenks.

"Al and I have an agreement," I said. "You know how demons are about their agreements."

"Tricky as a whore on a Saturday night, that's how," said Jenks. He was glowing an unsettling red.

"Al is working on a long-term schedule," I told them, remembering that I still hadn't mentioned Al's expectation for my life span. "I keep re-setting my biological clock, remember?"

"So what? We take what we can get?"

"Yes! That's what we've always done, Jenks, even at the I.S. We take what we can get."

Jenks turned to Ivy. "This is a shitty plan. Tell her this is a shitty plan."

Ivy looked tense. "I would, if I saw a plan to begin with."

I took a deep breath. "We tread with caution. Extreme caution. We keep our mouths shut. We keep our ears open. We treat her like a bomb, but a potentially helpful bomb, while not forgetting she could blow us up as well as our enemies. We watch her watching us. We don't forget who she's working for, but we don't forget that he's helped us out… on occasion," I added.

"She is a spy from an enemy with whom we are currently at a truce," said Ivy smoothly, and I nodded. That was more or less correct.

"No one likes this," I said. "But we have to deal with it." I sort of felt like putting my hands in and yelling "Go team!" after my little pep talk, but felt this probably wasn't the right time. This was, after all, serious business, which meant my feelings about Al needed to go on the back burner. _Or off the stove entirely_, I thought. Yeah, yeah. Like it was that simple.

Author's Note: Sorry for the prolonged absense. I was putting off my schoolwork to write this and it finally caught up with me. But I'm out of school now for the summer, and while it's a busy summer, I should have time to update. Also, this chapter did not want to be written, but I got a lovely review that spurred me on.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I woke up around noon feeling like a load of crap. Between Pierce and Hildy, I hadn't gotten much sleeping in. I took a shower, but it didn't make me feel any better. I just couldn't let my guard down. I kept picturing Hildy jumping in here and slicing my throat with a knife. I jumped at every sound, even though the door was locked. What were locks to a woman so magically altered she was indestructible? I bet she could pick locks. Hell, _I_ could pick locks, and it's not like we had top security on the bathroom. I finally calmed down by telling myself to think rationally. Hildy's on Al's payroll. Al doesn't want me dead, he wants me living in the Ever-After with him. _Unless he decides you're not worth the trouble_, said a little voice. I kept reminding myself she was contractually obligated to protect me, which made me feel only marginally better. I didn't doubt her ability to protect me. It was the people who got in the way I was worried about.

I sat down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. Jenks landed on the table. "Have you been keeping an eye on her?" I asked.

"She's just been sitting up there. If she's slept any, we haven't seen it," he answered.

"What do you think she's doing? Waiting for something?"

Jenks zipped up to my shoulder and whispered so softly I almost couldn't hear him. "We think she's _listening_. She probably has the same hearing-enhancing spell Pierce has."

Something inside hurt when Jenks said Pierce's name. I had basically cheated on him with Al, and now I had to face it. But before I could go down another dark spiral, Hildy walked into the room.

"Good morning, Rachel," she said. "Am I permitted to use the kitchen or shall I prepare my food in the attic? I have plenty of food that can be eaten anywhere, should we have to make a journey, but I doubt we will. I am here to satisfy Newt's wish that you be watched out for."

"So why didn't Al hire someone else. I don't think your _services_ come cheap and Al is a little short on the green these days. And one more thing: why hasn't Al just found him and dragged him back by now?" I asked.

Hildy adjusted her stance slightly. Looking at the way she was standing, legs apart, hands behind her back, I wondered if she'd ever been in the military. "There is the possibility that Pierce will choose to enact his vengeance on you as well as Mr. A, but we're preparing for that."

It took me a second to realize Mr. A was her name for Al. I guess that's what she called him during business, as opposed to pleasure. I sat up straighter. "You're not going to kill him, are you?"

"He's Al's familiar. That's his decision. As to your second question, Mr. A didn't say, but I would bet Pierce has taken some counter-measures, though I doubt they'll last for long. I've never heard of anyone outsmarting Mr. A. At least no one who belongs on this side of the lines," she said and smiled.

"I've outsmarted Al," I pointed out.

Hildy looked at me and simply said "So you have," which pretty much meant she was calling me a demon.

"I'm a _witch_," I said, my temper rising. "So what if I can kindle demon magic? It's daylight now and _I'm still here_."

"I'm afraid that's not my area of expertise. Sounds like a discussion for Mr. A."

I sat back down. She was backing off, but I could see what she thought on her face as plainly as if she had written it on there. She considered me to a demon, or at least something other than a witch, something that didn't belong on this side of the lines.

I looked out toward the line flowing throw my back yard and wondered which demon made that line when they flung themselves back across. I had a weird image in my head of a bunch of demons curled up in fetal position, plummeting to earth like little meteors. That obviously wasn't correct, but it's how I pictured it.

Later, after a few hours piddling around the house trying to think of how I could possibly find Pierce and make peace with him before he went on this crazy assassination mission. I didn't think he had seen much of Cincinnati, at least not the new Cincinnati. I stupidly thought about putting up posters for him. Lost Lover: Reward if Found. When Ivy got home, we would put our heads together. She was the planner out of the two of us.

Al came at nightfall. He came very sneakily, not loud and flashy like he usually did. I didn't even know he was there until I looked outside to see Hildy and him whispering in the graveyard. I immediately got up and went to where they were standing. Anything he had to say to Hildy in private was something I wanted to be there for. I pulled on my boots by the door and stomped out there.

"Hey guys," I said, in a friendly voice that didn't mask my aggression one bit. "Whatchya talking about that I can't hear, huh?" I would have liked a better tactic, but I didn't think I could sneak up on Hildy and Al together.

"We were just discussing your runty little boyfriend. Really, I hope that now you've been with me, you'll stop picking up these nasty little wretches wherever you go. They are nothing but trouble."

"I do not pick up men wherever I go!" I said.

"Quit whining, Rachel. Hildy and I were discussing business and I am on a tight schedule. Lots of curses to twist. Unless you'd like to start our weekend session early, hmm?" he asked, smiling like the devil.

"No, thanks, I've got things to do here," I said.

"Regardless, starting tomorrow night when you come over to help, Hildy will be using her time off to help track down Pierce. He's been tricky, but I expect to locate him later tonight," he said pompously.

"If you can find him tonight, then what do you need my help with?"

"As we both have demonstrated, Pierce can escape easily enough, and I can track him easily enough, but it's keeping him that presents a problem. I want help with his cage, so to speak."

"Al, you can't expect me to—"

"I expect you to do what I say and not make a fuss," he said. He was getting pissed. I decided we would talk about this tomorrow night. With that as his final statement, he jumped the lines and was gone.

I looked at Hildy and walked back to the house. She followed behind me. I hated her. She reminded me too much of Al, which was painful in itself, but she was all the worst parts of him. Cold, remorseless, unreadable, _carnal_. I wondered if she had the same bitterness I had felt in Al in the lines. I don't believe people are born bad, not Hildy Roberson bad, and I wanted to know what happened to her to make her this way. I wanted to know what made her tick.

"Hildy, where are you from?" I asked.

She looked at me. I wondered if she had to answer my questions. She looked surprised. "The desert," she said.

"Which one?"

"Near L.A."

"L.A. is on the coast next to mountains."

"Perhaps not that L.A. then." God she was like a demon, the way she answered questions.

"Can you lie?"

"Yes."

"Can we trust you?"

"With your life." Hmm. My life. I turned this over in my head. She chose her words very carefully, and I wanted to know what she wasn't saying. If I could trust her with my life, could I trust she was telling the truth?

"Can I trust you are telling the truth?"

She didn't answer immediately. She was thinking. "It is prudent for me to be honest with you."

"That's not an answer."

"Yes it is."

"It's not what I wanted and you know it."

"I do. I'm here to protect you, not give you everything you want, girl," she said angrily.

It was strange to be addressed as "girl" by someone who looked younger than me. I wondered how old she was. My questions had drawn her out and upset her. She wasn't playing the girl next-door act any more. She got up and went into the corner where she squatted, just staring at me. I wondered if the demon curses had gone to her head.

"Whatchya doin'?" I asked conversationally.

"Watching you like I'm s'posed to," she answered in the same fake sing-song conversational voice. I made a mental note: _does not respond well to questioning_.

I walked out of the room. "Don't follow me," I said. "Go back to the attic." She obliged, walking towards the entry to the stairway. I knocked on Ivy's door. I never went in her room as a rule. I didn't want our scents to mix and turn her on. She opened it a little too quickly, using the speed she usually kept hidden and I said, "I was just talking to Hildy. She clicked the laptop she had been holding shut and I moved out of the way. She walked into the kitchen and straight outside. I followed her.

Once we were in the garden, she turned and said, "I've been researching her."

"Oh. You probably found out more than I did. I asked her where she was from and all I could get out of her was 'the desert' and the initials L.A. It can't be Los Angeles because—"

"It's Los Alamos." Ivy interrupted, and I stopped talking. "It's a tiny town in New Mexico. Hildy is 83. Roberson is her married name, she was born Hildy Gatz."

"New Mexico," I said in wonder. When the Angle virus hit, it had devastated small towns, wiping out most of middle America and the Southwest. There were strange things out there now. Bad things.

"There's nothing about the town after the forties. It's where the project to build a nuclear bomb started."

"But she was born before that," I said, doing my math.

"As far as I can tell, she's from _near_ Los Alamos, not in it."

"And she's _married_?"

"That's not the weirdest part. The weirdest part is her marriage is the first legal documentation of her existence. No birth certificate. No ID. She just showed up twenty-one years old."

Ivy and I looked at each other. We didn't even have to say it. _Don't trust her_. I suddenly thought of something. "Ivy, when I go into the Ever-After, she's not coming with me. She's staying here to find Pierce."

Ivy made a face. Clearly she had thought Hildy would be following.

"I'll have to adjust my plans," was all she said.

Then I spotted her face in the window and shushed Ivy. Yeah. See how _you_ like being talked about in the graveyard. It sucks, doesn't it? We watched her watching us, and went back inside.

It was quiet in the church for the next twenty-four hours. I didn't want to leave for fear of letting Hildy loose on the world. I had to keep her away from actual people and the best way to do that was to just stay home. I kept packing and re-packing for Al's. I kept thinking about if I should bring my pillow or not. He had plenty, but I wanted one that didn't smell like burnt amber. But then I didn't want a pillow that smelled like burn amber when I got back. I thought about bringing my perfume and spraying things in my general vicinity, but perfume might be the wrong gesture towards Al. I changed from jeans to leather pants and back again four times. Finally, I just sat in the kitchen, watching the shadows grow longer and fading completely as night fell, feeling hopeless. Suddenly Al was in the backyard, tugging at his cuffs. That was his nervous tic, and I wondered what he was worried about.

I walked out with my bag over my shoulder. Ivy and Jenks watched from the kitchen.

"You can put that back where it came from," he said, without any greeting.

"What?" I asked. I didn't know what he was talking about.

"Your bag. You can put it back. I'm giving you the night off work," he said, and my heart swelled despite my disbelief. One less night of Al breathing down my neck, growling at my work? "Tonight, itchy witch, we are going out!" he proclaimed.

"No we are not!" I answered.

Al's face fell in mock disappointment. "I thought you would be excited for date night," he fake pouted.

"I am. I could use a date night. But not with you. I can't take you anywhere! I'll be arrested. The only reason I didn't get in trouble last winter at Carew Tower was because people were too busy to notice you making _little blue butterflies out of nothing_."

"I won't let you be arrested."

"That's what I'm worried about. What if you turn an I.S. or F.I.B. agent's insides out trying to stop them? Then what?"

"Then you will have no choice but to live with me, hiding from all of Inderland."

My face fell. My heart dropped. This was not his plan. This could not be it.

"Al, no. We have an agreement. You're not just putting me at risk, you're putting yourself. What if they circle you?"

"Rachel. I have enough social grace to not make a mess of our date night. I'm not _really_ a huge, slobbering dog. I am a man of culture and taste. I promise, they won't even know I'm not a witch." And with that, a sheet of Ever-After coated him and he was wearing a modern outfit of jeans, a casual button-down black shirt, and a leather jacket. "Look at me! I could be in college!" He laughed. Somehow, I felt he was laughing at me. "Don't you like it?" he said.

Actually, I didn't, and not just because it meant we were actually doing this. It just wasn't _Al_. I didn't want to admit it, but I missed the green velvet. I felt even worse when I noticed his eyes, green like mine instead of orange and demonic.

When I didn't answer, he stepped forward and said, "Come, smell." He still had his same accent, I noticed. I leaned forward and inhaled, not wanting to step closer. I smelled nothing but redwood and Old Spice. "Now, where is your car? We can't possibly stay in, not when I spent all this time making myself pretty." He smiled. He was enjoying playing this role. "I shall be very upset. People get hurt when I am upset." That, I believed. "You took Minias out."

"He made me."

"I'm making you. See? Absolved from responsibility. _It's not my fault, the demons made me do it!_" he mocked in a high pitched voice. I think he was genuinely getting to the end of his rope now. "I asked you where your car is."

I swallowed. This was really going to happen. "I can't drive. They took away my license when I was summoned on the highway."

"Tut, tut. Such a pity."

I didn't want him to suggest calling a cab. I quickly thought of a restaurant we could walk to. "There's a nice Korean place down the road," I suggested.

"Oh, Rachel, you do love me! You remembered my fondness for the Orient." There he was, back to playing the needy girlfriend.

I sighed. "Aren't we supposed to be working on the Pierce situation?" I asked.

He walked forward, pushing me to face the other direction. "Don't you see, my little witch. We are."


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Notes: sorry for the delay. I had almost thought I had gotten out of fanfiction forever but I couldn't leave you guys hanging, not when I've got Being Human stories and Torchwood stories swirling in my head. I want to try to wrap this plot up by the end of summer and maybe throw in some fic-lets to keep us going till the next book. I'd like to thank ThoughtCriminal. Reading her updates just now is what put me in the mood. Also thank you to all those that reviewed, even in the dry times. You and ThoughtCriminal really just kicked my but into finishing this story.

Chapter 9

"We're what?" I asked loudly as we walked to the house, arm in arm.

"We need to lure him out."

"I will _not_ be used as bait."

"If you like, think of me as the bait. Anyway, I thought you would like this idea better than my first one, which was to have sex here. In reality. Somewhere public. That would _really_ get his goat."

I smoldered in silence. He was right. We needed to get to Pierce before Pierce got to us and did something we'd all regret, and this was the best, safest way. I thought of Al standing downtown blowing up apartment buildings whistling, "Here, Runty, Runty, Runty," and knew this was infinitely better. A quiet night out. But how could we apprehend Pierce quietly. "Just promise me one thing: don't make a scene trying to bag Pierce."

"That, my dear, is entirely up to him."

"No, part of it is up to you. Al, promise me you won't _try_ to make a scene. No killing. No maiming—"

"Now you're just being difficult."

"No maiming any innocent bystanders," I clarified.

Al stopped and looked at me. He put one hand on my chest and the other in the air. "With my right hand on your heart, I swear I will not cause havoc where havoc isn't due," and that was the best I could get out of him.

We walked inside the kitchen. Ivy and Jenks looked at us expectantly, wanting an explanation. "We're on Pierce duty tonight. Going out," I said quickly.

"Together?" asked Ivy.

"I'm not letting him out on his own!" I responded.

"Someone will recognize him! He's on the news, dragging you down the street on your ass!" said Jenks.

I hadn't thought of that.

"Somebody filmed that? Oh dear, I must get a copy," said Al. "I've sworn not to wreak havoc. On purpose."

I sighed. "He's not in his green suit. You can't really see his face. Look, he even changed his eyes and he doesn't smell like burnt amber."

Everyone looked at Al. Al smiled broadly, his flat, blocky teeth extra white in the kitchen light. "It's not up to you," he said pleasantly.

I set my bag down on the table and took Al's (rather muscular, if I do say so myself) arm and walked him towards the front door. Maybe we wouldn't even meet Pierce. Maybe if we did, we could just sit down and work it out quietly over egg rolls. Suddenly, Al stopped, and it was like I was trying to pull a rock. I turned around. We were in the door to the kitchen. Al looked at me. "Really, Rachel. Have you forgotten? I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted." Right. Demon. Holy ground. "Either you unsanctify this church immediately or we walk round the side path."

It seemed that sighing was my main form of breathing now, because I did it again. "Walk around it is," I said. "You have no idea how expensive it is to sanctify a church. I had to have it done after Newt came, and it took half an hour to convince him I wasn't a black witch. I couldn't get anyone to do it now, probably."

Al was practically glowing as we walked along the slate path. Now that I had actually considered what it would be like to live in the Ever-After, I understood a little better why he wanted to come with me that night when I was tracking Mia Harbor. Being in reality must make him so happy, when he's not trapped in someone's bubble.

"Do you miss reality, Al?" I asked.

"Always, my itchy witch. Always. Even more now that I live in poverty. My rooms used to be grand, and it dulled the ache."

"Would you rather be free in the Ever-After or trapped in a bubble in reality?" I asked. I wondered how long I could get him to keep answering my questions.

Al peered at me, his smokey glasses gone from his face. "Ever-After, I suppose. At least there I can work."

"What would you give to see the sun?"

He stopped walking at that one. "So inquisitive, itchy witch. Is this how you are with all your dates? It's truly a wonder how you only attract small, dangerous men, thieves and killers."

I felt my face grow red with both embarrassment and anger. "Is this how you are with all your dates? It's rude to talk about exes," I said hotly. I started walking again, and he followed.

"I do not have dates, love, only familiars. Funny, I don't seem to be in possession of your soul." This wasn't going well. I remembered Al's comment about Pierce not touching him, even when he _looked like me_. He was scaring me, and I wondered if it bothered him. I angled myself away from him and walked a little further to the side. I couldn't look at him. Al's steps grew heavy, and I realized that upsetting him was the opposite of what I wanted to do. I needed to find something pleasant to talk about fast.

"So… uh… how's Treble?" I asked. This was in the vicinity of a normal question where someone asks about a pet.

"A cantankerous old hag of a gargoyle, as always, but she eats the old grounds. She holds her own," he answered. "And your fish, he's well too."

"Have you been remembering to feed him? A few pellets every other day?"

"Yes, yes. He doesn't need it. I never fed my familiars and they lived for over a thousand years. Things are different in the Ever-After."

Familiars. We were back to what I didn't what to talk about. How Al was a slave trader. What he did to Ceri. What was he going to do with Pierce? I wanted to ask, but we weren't even at the restaurant yet.

"Bet you never had a fish as a familiar?" I said, trying to make him laugh.

He chuckled. "That's how you got Nick as your familiar, yes?"

I wished I could chuckle about that. "I don't keep people as familiars, Al."

"I think Trenton Aloysius Kalamack would disagree, unless you've stopped counting him as a person since he turned you in to the coven."

"Oh, he's a person. Just a terrible person, is all. People can be real assholes, ya know? If there's one thing I've learned in the last few years, it's that." Then I realized how bitter I sounded and stopped. It reminded me too much of all the bitterness I'd felt when I was trying to find Al in the ley line. Algaliarept: Old, bitter, and alone. I didn't want to turn into him. "People are assholes, but you really can count on your friends. Your real friends. Like Ivy, Jenks, and Ceri. They've done so much for me."

"And they're the only people you trust?" Al asked inquisitively.

"Yes," I said. "I trust them absolutely."

"I suppose that's a passable view. I am sure they'll do their best for you any time they can, but consider, Rachel, that their best might not be enough, especially as years go by. However, I'm glad you've come round and realized the darkness in the world. It's safer that way. I can't have you running around in the daylight filled with naïveté."

I could see the lights of the restaurant. "Make sure you know what kind of meat you're getting. They serve stuff like tendons here, but the food is good."

"I trust your taste. In food, at least. In men, I can honestly say I am the best thing to ever happen to you."

Now it was my turn to stop walking. The only reason I didn't hit him was because I couldn't decide where. So many times… _so many times_ I had thought about what my life would be like if I had never met Al in the library basement. "I could be baking cookies and getting familiars out of trees."

"You could be squandering your potential."

"I could still be a witch."

"You were never a witch. You weren't when you threw Trenton Aloysius Kalamack into a tree with a ley line and you aren't now. The only difference is you wouldn't know. You're children would still be demons, it would just be a surprise."

I hadn't thought of that. "Don't make me want to throw water on your face before we even get inside the restaurant. What happened to your little plan? How are we going to get Pierce if you insist on needling me every five minutes!"

Al shushed me and stepped forward, and I remembered Pierce's hearing charm. What if he was already here. Al was looking around.

"You could have just compromised our mission," he said.

"_You_ could have just compromised our mission! You're baiting me. And you can't even help yourself."

Al moved towards the restaurant and opened the door for me. "Is that green tea ice cream I spy? A capital idea!" I had gotten him. He wouldn't say anything, but I was right about him not being able to resist baiting me. I had found a weakness.

We sat at our table. My heart was pounding. I kept waiting for the screams, but they never came. His disguise was working.

Al saw my discomfort and said, "Rachel, who do you think I am? If I can't fool a restaurant of unsuspecting people than I'm not worth the space I stand on." Al took out a pocket watch that I saw held not a clock, but a tracking amulet. "He's getting closer. Soon he'll be right on top of us. Don't talk about it, don't even look at him when he comes."

"You think he'll try to kill you here?" I asked incredulously.

"He didn't mind killing four-hundred people in Eleison, and his freedom wasn't at stake there. Now hush."

I took a long pull on my pop. "I hate how you know so much about me and I know almost nothing about you," I said, remembering how he knew about me throwing Trent into a tree, how Nick had sold him pieces of information about me.

Al just blinked at me. He hadn't been expecting that. "My personal history is far too long to be covered in a mere dinner," he deflected. "You know the basics, or you should by now."

"What do I know, that you like Asia?"

"That's one thing."

"You also like nineteenth century England," I realized. "And green."

"See, you do know me," he said, pleased I had noticed.

"And dogs?" I guessed, thinking about his disguises. "No, you just like scaring people. You always show up as the thing that scares people the most." I thought about this. "What would you do if you didn't have a curse for what scared someone the most?" I asked.

"I can turn into anyone or anything. You know that." I did. I remembered the way he turned into Ivy in the basement and when he used to show up looking like me. "But I have encountered some odd fears. You'll never guess what Hildy is afraid of."

I huffed. I didn't want to admit it, but I didn't like him talking about his other women. "Chlamydia?" I guessed.

He laughed. "No, no." He paused. "It's butterflies. She's afraid of butterflies."

I laughed, then I realized something. "That's another thing! You like butterflies. Well, not enough to not let them die in the snow, but enough to make them when you're bored."

Al's face froze in evaluation. "Very good, Rachel. You are more observant than I give you credit for."

His complement pleased me. Our waitress came back to the table, and I stiffened, afraid. Al ordered chicken lo mein with a perfect accent and I just mumbled "Same." I had forgotten to look at the menu.

Al was fiddling with his napkin, finally smoothing it across his knees in one graceful motion. "One thing I do like about the Ever-After is that we demons have much better manners."

"Manners!" I cried out laughing, flashing back to all those Black Magic crime scenes and summonings gone wrong and hell, even the shit I'd seen Al do at Trent's stables which seemed forever ago now—and he has the gall to say demons have better manners.

"I do wish you'd share what's so funny, dove?" and I could hear the danger in his voice.

"It's just… after all the destruction I've seen demons bring on this world… it's difficult to imagine them having manners in their own world."

"Do you find me ill-mannered?" asked Al.

"No. Well, you've been nice to me since you started treating me like a student and not like a _demon familiar thing_. It's like there's this split you. There's you in the Ever-After with your books and instructions and then there's this other you that just want to frighten and torture people. I had the fight and circle you so many times because you were going to kill me! Or worse, you were going to take away my soul and let me live as your slave for a thousand years!"

"And yet when Pierce had me on the ground, you saved me," said Al, his voice completely calm and entirely serious.

"Well, we left the whole slave-enslaver dynamic back a while ago when I agree to be your Student, and since then we… we were kind of friends too, I think."

"Demons don't have friends. Not really. We have rivals and we have those whose old crimes we are tolerating for the moment but mostly—"

"You're a lonely bunch," I said.

Al stayed silent, so I knew I was right.

"And now we've gone past the usual teacher student relationship… though I have no idea what teacher student relationships in _your_ time were like."

"So are you implying that you, Rachel, have feelings for me?"

"You've wanted me in your bed for a long time. What does that mean?" I shot back, avoiding the question.

At the point, something in Al's jacket emitted a faint buzz. Al picked up the amulet and turned it over slowly in his hands.

"What's our strategy?" I bellowed, going into full runner mode. Pierce was clearly right on top of us and I still didn't know our plan of action. This was clearly a trap where there was just bait and no way to close the trap and bag the whole reason we were here in the first place. Oh wait, no. That was me. Pierce is just the victim here. And I'd bet my splat gun that he was most deadly black magic victim this side of the lines. _Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned_. They don't even have sayings for what kind of fury scorned black magic witch men hath.

"He's almost here…" said Al.

I kept trying to brace myself for what was coming. Broken glass. Screaming customers.

"Up the road, perhaps," he added.

Babies crying, children screaming for their mothers. Body parts flying across the room. Pierce riding in on a freaking pterodactyl.

"He's Three. Two. One. Here," and the bell above the door to the entrance of the restaurant tinkled as Pierce strode calmy through, taking off his hat.


End file.
